Expect more (and brighter) billboards in Miami-Dade after county weakens sign rules

Legislation approved Wednesday by the Miami-Dade County Commission allows larger digital signs along Miami-Dade roadways by ending a prohibition on digital billboards across the county.

Miami-Dade already allowed digital signs when attached to buildings and in other circumstances. But the legislation by County Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz that commissioners approved extends the rule to free-standing billboards.

While digital, the images can’t be moving or flashing. Instead, under Diaz’s legislation, a static image is now allowed to be replaced every eight seconds with a different static image.

“With the illumination standards, it’s hard to see the difference” between traditional and digital billboards, said Nathan Kogon, the county’s zoning director. Miami-Dade requires digital signs to have light meters that dim the illumination at night as well.

Separate legislation by Commissioner Keon Hardemon that allows digital signs on news racks also passed Wednesday.

The Diaz proposal narrowly passed a committee vote in December, but a slightly weaker version was approved unanimously Wednesday. At the request of other commissioners, Diaz dropped a provision that would have lifted billboard restrictions on commercial and industrial land near Metrorail tracks.

Along with allowing digital billboards where traditional billboards are currently allowed across Miami-Dade, the legislation lifts some billboard restrictions for land outside of city limits.

Miami-Dade’s existing law bars billboards along expressways — major highways with exits instead of intersections, such as Interstate 95 and State Road 836 — but cities can opt out of the rule.

Miami, Hialeah and Doral and other cities around expressways have opted out since the law passed in the 1980s, leaving patches of county-controlled land where billboards are prohibited next to city-controlled land where they’re allowed.

The Diaz legislation lifts the restriction on land outside city limits, allowing billboards on the type of industrial and commercial land where they’re currently permitted if not near an expressway.

After the vote, Diaz said the switch to digital billboards will make them easier to read. “You can see the billboards,” he said, “without having to squint your eyes as you drive by.”

This story was originally published January 19, 2022 at 6:00 AM.