31-29-67. Spacing standards and criteria. The standards and criteria for spacing of outdoor advertising authorized to be erected and maintained in zoned or unzoned commercial or industrial areas adjacent to the interstate and primary highway systems are:

(1) Within municipalities signs shall conform to any applicable building codes and ordinances relating to spacing except that no such sign may be located closer than one hundred feet from an existing off-premises sign on a state nonlimited access primary highway and no closer than five hundred feet from any existing off-premise sign on a limited access primary highway or on an interstate highway;

(2) Outside of municipalities no off-premise sign may be erected adjacent to a limited primary access highway or interstate highway closer than five hundred feet, nor adjacent to a nonlimited access highway closer than three hundred feet, to an existing off-premise sign;

(3) Neither inside nor outside of municipalities may any sign be erected or maintained in such a location as to prevent the driver of a vehicle from having an effective view of any official traffic control device applicable to the driver or to approaching, intersecting, or merging traffic and highways within five hundred feet of such sign; and

(4) Double-faced, back-to-back, and V-type signs shall be considered as a single sign structure for purposes of these usages.

The above spacing provisions do not apply to structures separated by buildings or other obstructions in such a manner that only one sign facing located within the above spacing distance is visible from the highway at any one time. The minimum distance between structures shall be measured along the nearest edge of the pavement between points directly opposite the signs along each side of the highway and applies only to structures located on the same side of the highway.

Source: SL 1977, ch 246, § 5 (3); SL 1979, ch 202, § 9; SL 2010, ch 145, § 158.