HomeMy WebLinkAboutSubmittal-Dusty Melton-County's Memo to Commissioner SuarezDate:
To:
District 7
June 4, 2015
MMIDADE
Memorandum COUNIATY
Honorable Commissioner Xavier L. Suarez
From: R. A. Cuevas, Jr.
County Attorney
Subject: County Sign Code
You have asked a number of legal questions regarding Chapter 33, Article VI of the
County Code regarding signs ("County Sign Code"), related to the enforceability of this Chapter
within municipalities and to digital signs. A copy of your request is attached as Exhibit 1.
Your legal questions have previously been answered in prior memoranda from this office.
Copies are attached as Exhibit 2 and Exhibit 3, respectively. As this office has previously noted,
if County staff were to determine, on a technical or administrative basis, that a city permitted or
authorized a sign based on an incorrect application or interpretation of the County Sign Code, the
County Commission or the Mayor could authorize that appropriate action be taken to require that
such sign be made to comply with the Code or be removed. (See Exhibit 2).
Our opinions as to the enforceability of the County Sign Code within the City of Miami
are unaffected by positions that may be taken by the Executive Director of the Southeast
Oveitown Park West Community Redevelopment Agency.
c: Honorable Carlos A. Gimenez, Mayor
Jack Osterholt, Deputy Mayor
Lourdes Gomez, Deputy Director, Regulatory & Economic Resources
Submitted into the public
record for item(s) P2 2 I
on 7-2. 9.2015-. City Clerk
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Submitted into the public
Record for item(s) PZ. 21
on 07/23/2015, City Clerk
Exhibit 1
From: Padron, Joanne (DIST7)
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2015 2:52 PM
To: Cuevas, Jr. R.A. (CAO)
Subject: FW: Innovation Tower is really just illegal LED billboards - 60 story LED billboards
Good afternoon Mr. Cuevas,
Commissioner Suarez is requesting a Legal Memo, per the email below.
Thank you,
Joanne Padron
Executive Aide
Commissioner Xavier L. Suarez
111 NW First Street
Suite 220
Miami, Florida 33128
Office: (305) 375-5680
Original Message
From: Peter Ehrlich <petersobe(a�aol.com>
To: xaviersuarezesq <xaviersuarezesq@aol.com>; bettermiami1 <bettermiamil(�yahoo.com>; mputney
<mputney(c�wIpq.com>
Cc: rcpou <rcpou(a miamidade.gov>
Sent: Fri, May 22, 2015 9:45 am
Subject: Re: Innovation Tower is really just illegal LED billboards - 60 story LED billboards
Commissioner,
LED billboards are generally illegal under the Miami -Dade County Sign Code. Section 33-96.1.
Can you request a Legal Memo from your County Attorney?
Request for a Legal Memo
To: County Attorney
From: Xavier Suarez
Commissioner
Date: May 24th, 2015
Re: Automatic Electric Changing Signs / LED signs
I am writing to obtain your written opinion regarding various aspects of the Sign Code of Miami -Dade County
(the "Sign Code"). I would appreciate your response at your very earliest opportunity:
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1. Does the Sign Code apply within every municipality of Miami -Dade County (the "County"), as well as
throughout the County's unincorporated area? In other words, does the Sign Code create countywide minimum
standards for all forms of outdoor signage, allowing individual cities to be more restrictive than the Sign Code —
but not more lenient than the Sign Code — with regard to specific regulations contained within their respective
municipal codes?
2A. Automatic electric changing signs, or programmable signs, are regulated at Section 33.96.1 of the Sign
Code. Do those 10 minimum requirements still apply within every County municipality, even if a municipality
has opted out of Division 5 of the Sign Code?
2B. Many programmable signs have been installed in recent years on billboard faces, some of which are located
along expressways and some of which are located along arterial or even minor roadways. Each land area for all
of those billboards with programmable sign faces is smaller than ten (10) acres in gross size. And few, if any at
all, of the products and services advertised on those programmable sign faces are available for purchase at the
location of those billboards. Given those facts, are those programmable signs on those billboards legal,
regardless of their location?
3C. The City of Miami (the "City") authorized the installation of programmable signs (deemed as signs with a
"change of copy") on the exterior of three, specified buildings on City -owned property. Two of those buildings
are located on land areas smaller than ten (10) acres in gross size. Would such programmable signs installed on
those two buildings located on properties of less than ten (10) acres be legal?
3D. If a programmable sign were to be installed on the exterior of a building on City -owned property that is ten
(10) acres or larger in size, could that programmable sign legally advertise goods and services NOT available
for purchase at that building's address?
3E. The County -owned American Airlines Arena has a programmable "media mesh" sign installed on its west
face, facing Biscayne Boulevard. If the media mesh were to advertise goods and services NOT available for
purchase at 601 Biscayne Boulevard, would the media mesh be operating in compliance with the Sign Code?
We understand FDOT has sent letters to Miami -Dade County
telling the County that the programmable sign on the American Airlines Arena violates several provisions of
Federal and State law.
4. At the beginning of Division 2, the Sign Code states: "Only those signs that are specially [sic; when
originally adopted in 1985, that word read "specifically") authorized by this sign code shall be permitted. Those
that are not listed or authorized shall be deemed prohibited." I do not find the words "light -emitting diode" or
"LED" anywhere in the Sign Code. (By comparison, I find the word "incandescent" and a maximum nine (9)
watts of illumination within the standards for programmable signs.) Are signs that utilized LED technology in
compliance with the Sign Code, inasmuch as that type of sign is NOT specifically authorized or listed anywhere
in the Sign Code?
5. Can the Executive Director of the Southeast Overtown Park West Community Redevelopment Agency
(SEOPW CRA) recommend a sign
permit that violates provisions of the City of Miami Sign Code and that violates provisions of the Miami -Dade
County Sign Code?
And can such a recommendation be ultimately denied for permitting by the City of Miami? By Miami -Dade
County? If illegal, could Miami -Dade County enforce its Sign Code?
Thanks you for your prompt assistance. Receipt of your opinion prior to June 3rd, 2015 would be greatly
appreciated.
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Submitted into the public
Record for item(s) PZ. 21
on 07/23/2015, City Clerk
' Xavier Suarez
Submitted into the public
Record for item(s) PZ. 21
on 07/23/2015, City Clerk
Thank you,
Peter Ehrlich
Scenic Miami
Urban Environment League
305 798 1200
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