July 3rd, 2007
Being an intern architect I was curious about the legality of this banner erected at the Miami Beach home/campaign headquarters of mayoral candidate Bill Smatt. If you can’t make out the above photo a section of the banner reads “God created Adam + Eve, not Adam + Steve.” What follows is my analysis of how the Miami Beach municipal code applies to said banner…
First step was to determine the zoning of Smatt’s property. The Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser shows Smatt’s house is zoned “0100 SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE.” Smatt’s website lists his residence as his campaign headquarters.
Next we mozie on over to the Miami Beach municipal code and see what kind of restrictions are placed on campaign signs.
Sec. 138-134. Election signs.
(c) The sign area in commercial or industrial districts for campaign headquarters shall not have a sign area limitation. Each candidate may have four campaign headquarters which shall be registered with the city clerk. Other commercial or industrial district locations shall have the same requirements as for construction signs or real estate signs, whichever is larger. The sign area in residential districts shall be the same as for construction signs.
Ok the code is referring us to the section regulating construction signs. Let’s see what that tell us.
Sec. 138-133. Construction signs.
(c) The sign area for window signs shall not exceed ten percent of total window area. The sign area for single-family signs is four square feet. The sign area for all other districts, shall not exceed one square foot per three linear feet of street frontage, not to exceed 75 square feet. The area contained in renderings, decorative or artistic portions of such signs shall be included in the sign area calculation, in accordance with the provisions herein. When unit prices are allowed they shall not exceed ten percent of the total sign area and numbers shall not exceed six inches in height.
Yep, looks like Smatt’s single family house is limited to four square feet of campaign signage. If I were his neighbor you better believe I’d be calling code enforcement on him.
But there’s more, and this is where Smatt may have mis-read the code (assuming he read it).
If Smatt had located his banner and campaign headquarters is any commercial or industrial zone there would be absolutely no size limits placed on his sign. Let’s re-read the section on election signs.
Sec. 138-134. Election signs.
(c) The sign area in commercial or industrial districts for campaign headquarters shall not have a sign area limitation. Each candidate may have four campaign headquarters which shall be registered with the city clerk. Other commercial or industrial district locations shall have the same requirements as for construction signs or real estate signs, whichever is larger. The sign area in residential districts shall be the same as for construction signs.
Mr. Smatt, may I suggest setting up a new headquarters in a building shaped like this (provided it’s zoned commercial or industrial of course).
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Lynn David
July 4th, 2007
Looks like Smatt went splat.
Daniel
July 4th, 2007
“God created Adam + Eve, not Adam + Steve.â€
Now, that’s what I call intellectual sharpness.
Kevin
July 4th, 2007
This is a good example of religious persecution. A biblical verse is being used by the government (and this wanna-be) to keep down a certain portion of the population. This isn’t about ‘family values’ and ‘traditional marriage.’ It is about persecution. Plain and simple.
Jim Burroway
July 4th, 2007
Daniel G., y’er getting to be as nerdy as me. ;-)
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