Miami Repeals Law Authorizing Giant Digital Billboards

Miami (FL) city commissioners voted to repeal a law that enabled the construction of a giant digital billboard for the Pérez Art Museum of Miami in late May, according to the Miami Herald.

The city first authorized the sign under 2023 legislation that doubled the permissible size of digital billboards, from 750 sq. ft. to 1,800 sq. ft., in select downtown locations in Miami, including the Pérez Art Museum of Miami (PAMM) and the nearby Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

PAMM’s jumbo billboard currently remains in compliance as commissioners agreed that repealing the law would not revoke its permit. Nonetheless, its fate hinges on whether the city would dispute the public land lease that the nonprofit museum used for the billboard. The commissioners introduced new restrictions for signs that were approved under the 2023 law, including brightness limits and an 11 p.m. shutdown requirement for digital signs considered non-conforming structures, according to the Herald.

The sign was built by Orange Barrel Media (Columbus, OH), which provided then-Miami Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla with $225,000 for his reelection efforts after he sponsored the sign-expansion law, the Herald reports. He was later arrested on bribery charges. Residents in nearby high-rise buildings have also condemned the billboard as a blight on the landscape and a source of light pollution.

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