Any municipal corporation or county is authorized to acquire by purchase, gift, or condemnation and to pay just compensation for any property rights in outdoor advertising signs, displays, and devices which were lawfully erected but which do not conform with the provisions of any lawful ordinance, regulation, or resolution or which at a later date fail to comply with the provisions of any lawful ordinance, regulation, or resolution due to changed conditions beyond the control of the sign owner. No municipal corporation or county shall remove or cause to be removed any such nonconforming outdoor advertising sign, display, or device without paying just compensation. Such compensation shall be paid in accordance with the conditions stated in Code Section 32-6-84. For the purposes of this Code section, the term "devices" means light, lighting fixtures, or other fixtures which are permanently attached to an advertising sign or display.
(Ga. L. 1967, p. 423, § 8; Code 1933, § 95A-923.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1979, p. 803, § 1.)
Law reviews.- For article surveying legislative and judicial developments in Georgia local government law for 1978-79, see 31 Mercer L. Rev. 155 (1979).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
County ordinance violated O.C.G.A. § 32-6-83 since the ordinance provided that a nonconforming sign damaged by weather or an act of God could not be repaired or reerected. State v. Hartrampf, 273 Ga. 522, 544 S.E.2d 130 (2001).
Just compensation.
- County sign ordinance was unconstitutional since the ordinance conflicted with O.C.G.A. § 32-6-83 requiring the payment of just compensation after the county acquired an owner's property rights when an advertiser attempted to repair a nonconforming outdoor advertising sign damaged by a tornado and the ordinance contained no provision for paying compensation. Thus, the trial court's grant of summary judgment for the county was erroneous when the county failed to pay the advertiser just compensation for taking of the advertiser's sign. Outdoor Sys. v. Cobb County, 274 Ga. 611, 555 S.E.2d 435 (2001).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
ALR.
- Municipal power as to billboards and outdoor advertising, 58 A.L.R.2d 1314.
Municipality's power to permit private owner to construct building or structure overhanging or crossing the air space above public street or sidewalk, 76 A.L.R.2d 896.