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CITY OF MIAMI. FLORIDA
INTER -OFFICE MEMORANDUM
TO Howard V. Gary DATE February 29, 1984 FILE
City Manager
SUBJECT Street Clocks
FROM Walter Pierce REFERENCES
Assistant City Manager (Acting)
ENCLOSURES.
Attached is a memorandum from the Street Clock Desi,7n Review
Committee outlining its recommendations to the City Commission.
As you will recall, this Committee was established by the City
Commission on November 18, 1983 for the purpose of evaluating the
proposed clock/advertising ornamental structures. Members of the
Committee are to be thanked for their diligence and effort on
behalf of the City of Miami.
Though the Committee has completed its assigned task with
submission of the attached memorandum, there are two additional
factors of which both the City Commission and Administration
should be made aware. These factors are: (1) prohibitions and
restrictions presently delineated in the Florida Statutes and (2)
the issue of whether the public benefit aspect of the proposal is
primary or cnerely incidental to the commercial advertising
aspect.
Specifically, Section 335.13, Florida Statutes, reads in part:
(2) No person shall erect any billboard,
advertisement, advertising sign,
advertising structure or light within
the right-of-way limits of any road in
the state road system, the state park
road system, or the county road system
or any municipal connecting link
thereof; however, the Department of
Transportation is authorized to adopt
rules and regulations concerning the
placement of signs, canopies, and other
overhanging encroachments along and over
all state roads which are within
corporate limits of municipalities, or
which are of curb -and -gutter
construction outside corporate limits,
provided no supports are located within
the right-of-way.
M o 7-1'oN
84-242.
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Howard V. Gary
Street Clocks
Page 2
In addition to the above it is noted that Dade County maintains
what is thought of as a rigid policy against the placement of
permanent structures within the public right-of-way. These
factors are or become relevant' when it is considered that most,
if not practically all, major roads in the City are either State
roads or Dade County designated arterials or municipal connecting
links, neither of which are controlled by the City. Accordingly,
in most instances placement of street clock structures would be
subject to review and approval by Dade County and/or the State of
Florida. (A sample result of existing regulations is to note
that of the more than sixty (60) locations suggested by one clock
company, less than five (5) are thought to be approvable by the
City alone.) To be totally accurate, however, it should be
pointed out that under certain circumstances, primarily in rural
areas along state highways, advertising is permitted in rights -
of -way, such as on school bus stops and on litter containers.
These are excepted and permitted on the basis that public
benefits are specific in that school children are provided safe,
dry shelter while waiting at bus stops and that litter containers
aid in the reduction of litter in the State; content, size and
placement of advertising is strictly regulated.
As a part of the Committee's consideration, representatives of
various clock companies were invited to make presentations as to
design, size and placement of advertising structures. In no
instance was there a sign style presented where the public
benefit aspect, i.e., time and temperature display, exceeded
twenty-five (25) percent of the total display area of an
advertising structure. If the advertising display portion of a
structure is in the range of sixty (60) to seventy-five (75)
percent, and the time/ display does not exceed forty
(40) percent, which is the incidental aspect? It is respectfully
requested that the City Commission be asked to ;Hake a specific
determination as to the public benefit to be derived from this
proposal.
In conclusion, it appears this proposal has been presented to the
City sooner than it should have been. That is, since City
policies and regulations track State and County laws, the City
may not have the authority to do anything more than bless this as
a good idea.
V
February 28, 1984
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members
of the City Commission
FROM: Street Clock Design
Review Committee
On November 13, 1983 the City Commission established this
Committee for the express purpose of evaluating"... any proposed
design and location of the ornamental structures and consider
such factors as the need for Citywide continuity of structural
design and concern for environmental harmony throughout the
City".
In an effort to execute this charge, the Committee has :net on a
number of occasions and has received input from City staff, the
Dade County Department of Public Works, Florida Department of
Transportation and representatives of several companies whose
business is the installation and maintenance of light ornamental
structures. After considerable deliberation, the below concerns
are raised and, in the Committee's collective opinion,
appropriate recommendations made.
SAFETY
The paramount consideration is risk to the City of liability for
injury or damage because of the hazard of device intrusion into
either the vehicular right of way or the pedestrian use of
sidewalks.
1. Vehicular clearance
The City should abide by State Statute Section 335.13 (to
which Dade County conforms) affecting placement of advertising
devices with respect to the roadway. This regulation has been
defined to specify that no object should be located closer to
84-242-
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Hon. Mayor and Members of
the City Commission
Page 2
the roadway edge of the curb than eighteen (18) inches when
adjacent to a parking lane or four feet when adjacent to a
vehicular moving lane.
2. Pedestrian clearance
Presently no standard exists with respect to sidewalk
obstructions which present a hazard or impede flow. The city
should maintain a minimum unobstructed pathway of six feet
measured from the edge of the display panel toward the private
property line.
LOCATION
1. The traffic visibility triangle at street intersections
should be observed.
2. Devices should not intrude into the airspace of private
property canopies or signage.
3. No device should be closer to another than 1000 feet in any
direction.
4. Devices should be sited with the display panel face
perpendicular to traffic flow (not parallel) so as not to
obstruct store fronts or building facades.
5. Proposed locations should be presented at a public hearing.
6. No device should be permitted in scenic corridors, parks or
plazas.
7. Twenty percent of all units should display a civic message
and not a commercial one.
84-242. .
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Hon. Mayor and Members of
the City Commission
Page 3
DESIGN
1. All device frames and posts should be of uniform color.
Messages on advertising panels should be limited to three
colors.
2. The overall size of the display panel should not exceed 20
square feet of which the maximun width should be four feet.
3. A minimum of twenty percent of the display panel area should
be devoted to time and temperature messages.
ADDENDUM
With due respect, the Committee wishes to express its concensus
that freestanding private interest advertising displays are not
desirable on public property in residential or commercial areas.
Jimmie Allen
American Institute of Architects
Peg E. Gorson
American Society of the
Interior Designers
Albert R. Perez
American Society of Landscape Architects
American Planning Association
Walter L. Pierce
City Manager's Office
Prof. Harold Lewis Malt,
Committee Chairman
University of Miami, School of Architecture
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