Bill Text: MS HB887 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Scenic byways; require screening of nuisance junkyards visible from.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2015-02-03 - Died In Committee [HB887 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2015-HB887-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2015 Regular Session
To: Transportation
By: Representative Massengill
House Bill 887
AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE SCREENING IN OF NUISANCE JUNKYARDS VISIBLE FROM SCENIC BYWAYS; TO PROVIDE CERTAIN DEFINITIONS; TO PROVIDE THAT THE SCENIC BYWAYS ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION DETERMINE IF A JUNKYARD IS A NUISANCE; TO AUTHORIZE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO SCREEN IN ANY NUISANCE JUNKYARD USING THE SCENIC BYWAY RIGHT-OF-WAY; TO PROVIDE PENALTIES FOR JUNKYARDS BUILT IN VIOLATION OF THIS SECTION; TO AMEND SECTION 65-41-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ALLOW FUNDS IN THE SCENIC BYWAYS DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE FUND TO BE USED FOR SCREENING IN OF NUISANCE JUNKYARDS; TO AMEND SECTION 65-41-13, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM WITH THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. For the purpose of promoting the public safety, health, welfare, convenience and enjoyment of public travel, to protect the public investment in scenic byways and to preserve and enhance the scenic beauty of lands bordering them, it is hereby declared to be in the public interest to regulate and require the beautification of nuisance junkyards in areas adjacent to scenic byways within this state. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that junkyards which do not conform to the requirements of this chapter are public nuisances.
SECTION 2. The following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) "Junk" means old or scrap copper, brass, rope, rags, batteries, paper, trash, rubber debris, waste, or junked, dismantled or wrecked automobiles, or parts thereof, iron, steel, and other old or scrap ferrous or nonferrous material.
(b) "Automobile graveyard" means any establishment or place of business which is maintained, used or operated for storing, keeping, buying or selling wrecked, scrapped, ruined or dismantled motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts.
(c) "Junkyard" means an establishment or place of business which is maintained, operated or used for storing, keeping, buying or selling junk, or for the maintenance or operation of an automobile graveyard, and the term shall include garbage dumps and sanitary fills.
SECTION 3. (1) No person shall establish, operate or maintain a junkyard that is visible from any scenic byway and that constitutes a nuisance. Whether a junkyard constitutes a nuisance shall be determined by the Scenic Byways Advisory Committee and the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
(2) Any junkyard that is deemed to constitute a nuisance shall be screened in by the junkyard owner in an appropriate manner by natural objects, plantings, fences or other appropriate means so as not to be visible from the scenic byway.
(a) Before the junkyard owner is required to screen in any junkyard which the committee and the department have deemed a nuisance, the department shall afford such junkyard owner with notice and the opportunity for a hearing as required by due process.
(3) The department may, in its discretion, screen in any junkyard that is deemed to constitute a nuisance in the same manner as provided by subsection (2) of this section on the scenic byway right-of-way if it is feasible to do so. The screening in of any such junkyard shall not be done in a manner that violates state or federal law regarding right-of-ways.
(4) Any person, partnership, corporation or other legal entity that seeks to establish, or does establish a junkyard that is visible from a scenic byway and constitutes a nuisance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined in an amount not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00). In addition, the Mississippi Transportation Commission may seek injunctive relief in the chancery court of the county in which the junkyard is located to abate the nuisance and to require the removal of all junk from the prohibited area. However, before any fine is imposed or injunctive relief sought, the Department of Transportation shall afford such junkyard owner with notice and opportunity for a hearing as required by due process.
SECTION 4. Section 65-41-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
65-41-11. (1) The department may accept donations, bequests, gifts, grants, appropriations of federal money, in-kind contributions and things of value from any source, public or private, including individuals, organizations and federal, state and local governmental bodies, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining the Mississippi Scenic Byways Program. All such money so received by the department shall be deposited into a special fund that is created in the State Treasury to be designated as the "Scenic Byways Development and Maintenance Fund." Unexpended amounts remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund, and any investment earnings or interest earned on amounts in the fund shall be deposited to the credit of the fund.
(2) Monies in the Scenic Byways Development and Maintenance Fund may be expended, upon legislative appropriation, for the following purposes:
(a) To plan, design and develop the Mississippi Scenic Byways Program;
(b) To develop and implement a corridor management plan for the purposes of maintaining the intrinsic qualities of scenic byways and providing accommodation of increased tourism and development of related amenities;
(c) To make safety improvements to Mississippi scenic byways, a National Scenic Byway or an All-American Road to the extent that the improvements are necessary to accommodate increased traffic and changes in the types of vehicles using the highway, road or street as a result of the designation;
(d) To construct along scenic byways facilities for use by pedestrians and bicyclists, rest areas, turnouts, highway shoulder improvements, passing lanes, overlooks and interpretive facilities;
(e) To make improvements to scenic byways that will enhance access to recreation areas, including water-related recreations;
(f) To protect the intrinsic qualities of areas adjacent to scenic byways;
(g) To develop and provide tourist information to the public, including interpretive information about scenic byways;
(h) To develop and
implement scenic byway marketing programs; * * *
(i) To match monies
made available from the federal government for the establishment and
maintenance of the Scenic Byways Program * * *; and
(j) To screen in nuisance junkyards in accordance with this act.
SECTION 5. Section 65-41-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
65-41-13. (1) This chapter shall not prohibit, restrict or otherwise affect any existing or future lawful use or activity in or related to a scenic byway area. This chapter also shall not prohibit, restrict or otherwise affect the operation, maintenance or new construction of any facility, road, railroad, bridge, utility, pipeline, crossing or any other structure in or related to a scenic byway area. However, if the structure is a nuisance junkyard under this act, the Mississippi Department of Transportation may either require the junkyard owner to screen in the junkyard, or screen in the junkyard on the scenic byway right-of-way in accordance with this act. If there is any conflict between this section and any other provision of this chapter, this section shall control.
(2) Nothing in this chapter shall mandate local governments to participate in the program, and a local governmental entity may terminate participation in the program at any time by resolution duly adopted and entered upon its minutes.
SECTION 6. Sections 1 through 3 of this act shall be codified as new sections in Chapter 41, Title 65, Mississippi Code of 1972.
SECTION 7. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2015.
