Those two signs on Super Bowl stadium’s roof are illegal — and Miami-Dade officials know it

Want to be reminded how the rich and powerful among us act as if they are above the law? Then tune in to the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Even before kickoff, you’ll likely see an aerial shot of two giant commercial advertisements on the roof of Hard Rock Stadium. And you’ll see them again and again and again before the game clock expires.

The ads are illegal — and those who should know that already do.

The signs violate Miami-Dade County’s Sign Code, adopted in July 1985. Since then, it has become the law in every municipality in the county. That includes the city of Miami Gardens, host to the NFL championship game.

The Sign Code establishes minimum regulations for all outdoor signage. The county’s various municipalities can enact regulations for any type of sign more restrictive than the Sign Code’s requirements, but no city government can enact a rule more permissive than the Sign Code.

Within each municipality, that city is responsible for the primary enforcement of the Sign Code.

But the county never relinquished its enforcement rights and may exercise them at will, anywhere.

During the 34 years since the Sign Code’s adoption, most municipalities have honored it. But some cities, most notably the city of Miami, have “approved” many illegal signs — often in the face of expert testimony beforehand that such a municipal decision would violate specific Sign Code provisions.

The Sign Code defines “roof sign” as: “Any sign which is painted on, fastened to or supported by the roof or erected over the roof.” Those two mammoth signs atop Hard Rock Stadium meet that simple definition. And the Sign Code entirely outlaws all roof signs: “Roof signs are prohibited in all the [zoning] districts.”

This ain’t complicated — the signs violate the County Code.

Is my heartburn really important? Does it truly matter that any sign is painted on the top of any building, completely out of view except when you might be flying over it or a blimp films it for an international television audience?

I get that. I’m not going to convince anyone to be offended. But I am insulted, on a couple of levels.

First, the stadium roof signs are a brazen affront to our local rule of law; thus, they must be removed at once. Continued benefit derived from those prohibited signs by the rich and powerful who own and operate Hard Rock Stadium insults to all law-abiding county residents.

I’m indignant, too, because county officials know that those signs are illegal. Yet none of them can be bothered — by the outlaw signs themselves or to enforce their own County Code.

Do they not care at all? Or could it be that the county is an investor in Hard Rock Stadium, paying its owner multimilliondollar bonuses for attracting big-time events, such as the Super Bowl? Anyone can figure that one out.

It would be easy to keep images of Hard Rock Stadium’s two illegal roof signs off the airwaves during the Super Bowl telecast. It might cost billionaire owner Stephen Ross a few bucks, but will he do it?

I’m not holding my breath.

Eston “Dusty” Melton, a former political reporter for the Miami Herald, is chairman of Gryphon Partners, a Miami-based governmental consulting and lobbying firm. Melton, who represented the outdoor advertising industry in 1980s, helped author the Miami-Dade County Sign Code. He wrote this op-ed as a private citizen and with no client interest.