Art museum mega-billboard will stay, city will be paid

A settlement has been approved allowing the Pérez Art Museum Miami’s (PAMM) 10-story LED billboard to remain operating in downtown under new restrictions on its hours and brightness, with the city receiving $500,000 annually plus a 2% yearly increase.

Miami city commissioners voted 4-1 Sept. 25, ending a year-long legal dispute between the city and PAMM over the billboard’s future. The decision ensures the digital sign, the only one permitted under a now-repealed ordinance, will continue operating with stricter limits and guaranteed revenue for the city.

Last May, commissioners rolled back a 2023 outdoor advertising ordinance that had allowed 100-foot-tall, illuminated digital signs up to 1,080 square feet at additional sites downtown, including PAMM. Commissioner Damian Pardo, who represents the area, sponsored the repeal of the ordinance, arguing that the towering billboards disrupted residents’ quality of life and marred the neighborhood’s aesthetics.

By then, PAMM had already received a permit under the prior legislation. When the city adopted a new outdoor advertising ordinance, the display was deemed a non-conforming use. The city then claimed PAMM violated its lease by erecting the billboard on city-owned land and issued a notice of default. PAMM sued for an injunction to block enforcement, and the city countered, asking the court to determine whether the sign could remain. The litigation has dragged on for more than a year.

The settlement now allows the sign to continue operating under defined financial and operational terms, avoiding further costly litigation. Under the agreement, PAMM will pay the city $500,000 a year with a guaranteed 2% annual increase. The billboard must turn off between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., an extension of the previously proposed 6 a.m. cutoff, and brightness and ambient light limits will remain in place under city monitoring requirements.

During the debate, commissioners weighed the city’s financial risk if the case were to go to trial. Mr. Pardo, who cast the lone dissenting vote, criticized the lack of community involvement. “There has been zero information communicated about any of this, as far as any kind of variables or any kind of negotiation that we could possibly have,” he said, calling for a deferral to allow public discussion.

Commissioner Miguel Gabela countered that settling was the only way to both secure revenue and preserve the city’s ability to regulate the billboard while also reducing the risk of an expensive court defeat.

“Apart from the monies that they’re offering now, if we should make a settlement, we’re also going to be able to regulate them. If they win in court, we are not going to be able to … and I want us to regulate when they can turn the sign on and off,” Mr. Gabela said. “I prefer to make a settlement where I am earning revenues for the city rather than the city and taxpayer footing the bill. If we go all the way to the end and we lose this thing, we’re going to be out millions of dollars.”

With the settlement final, downtown Miami’s last towering digital billboard will remain a fixture, generating steady revenue for the city and securing visibility for PAMM.

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