Ordinance 503 ORDINANCE NO. 503
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH,
FLORIDA, DEFINING A LODGING HOUSE, ROOM-
ING HOUSE AND/OR HOTEL, PROVIDING FOR THE
APPLICATION FOR AND ISSUANCE OF LICENSE
THEREFOR, PROVIDING FOR CERTAIN DIMENSIONS
AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS FOR SLEEPING ROOMS
AND TOILET FACILITIES, AND PROVIDING PEN-
ALTIES FOR VIOLATION THEREOF.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH,
FLORIDA:
SECTION 1 : For the purposes of this ordinance, a lodging house ,
rooming house, or hotel , is hereby defined as any
building used for housing purposes in which there
are more than three (3) beds for the use of lodgers , roomers ,
or boarders , or in which more than six (6) persons , paying
guests of said lodging house, rooming house, or hotel , are
allowed to sleep.
SECTION 2: No such lodging house, rooming house , or hotel as
above defined, shall be conducted, maintained or
operated in the City of Miami Beach without a permit
or license therefor, issued by the City of Miami Beach.
SECTION 3 : Each owner or operator of a lodging house, rooming
house, or hotel, as herein defined, shall file
with the City of Miami Beach, a written application
under oath, signed by himself, and setting forth the following:
(a) Full name and address of proprietor or operator
of lodging house, rooming house or hotel, and of
the owner of the premises.
(b) Location of the lodging house , rooming house, or
hotel.
( 0) The portions of the building intended to be used as
a lodging house, rooming house, or hotel , together
with blue-prints of floor plans of all buildings ,
not originally constructed as an apartment house,
hotel or rooming house.
(d) A certificate from the Fire Department of the City
of Miami Beach to the effect that the premises for
which a permit is desired complies with all fire laws ,
ordinances and regulations of the City of Miami Beach.
SECTION -: Applicants for rooming house licenses shall pay a
license fee in accordance with the provisions of
Ordinance No. 394+, as amended.
SECTION 5: LEAST DIMENSIONS FOR SLEEPING ROOMS. Every sleep-
ing room in the City of Mia ii Beach, Florida, shall
have a clear height between floor and ceiling of
not less than eight (8) feet , its least horizontal dimension
shall be not less than seven ( 7) feet and it shall have not
smaller floor area than seventy ( 70) square feet.
SECTION 6: QUANTITY OF AIR REQUIRED PER PERSON. Every sleep-
ing room shall be of sufficient size to afford at
least four hundred (400 ) cubic feet of air space
for each occupant over twelve years of age , and two hundred
( 200) cubic feet for each occupant under twelve years of age.
Na greater number of occupants than thus established shall be
permitted to sleep in any Z7ne room.
SECTION 7 : SLEEPING ROOM AND VENTILATION, No room shall be
used for a, sleeping room which does not open to
the outside of the building, on highway, street or alley side
or to a yard or court, and each sleeping room shall have at
least one window and one door, and in all hotels , rooming houses
andlodging houses , all sleeping rooms shall have a transom as
wide as the door with sash not less than twelve inches (12" )
high. The total area of windows to be not less than ten per
cent cf the floor area of the room, including the area of every
recess or alcove. Each window to be constructed to permit at
least fifty per cent (503/4 of its full area to be opened either
at top or bottom or side. The tops of all such windows to be
not more than two (2) feet below the ceiling. No room shall
be used as a sleeping room which was not ori^ inally constructed
for such purpose, unless by special leave and licen$e of the
Building Department, and no porches shall be rented as sleeping
rooms unless the adjoining space is occupied by the same party,
and then only if the cubic content and floor space , as the same
compares with the number of occupants , complies with Sections 5
and 6 of this ordinance.
SECTION 8: TRANSO1T REQUIREMENTS. Transoms may be placecie either
above or beside the doors , and hinted at bottom to
open in. They must be screened outside of a. room. Louvred
upper panels in doors of equal area, and screened as required
for transoms may be used in lieu thereof. Sash may have solid
panels or opaque `lass.
SECTION 9 : It shall be unlawful for any landlord, proprietor,
keeper, manager, or clerk of any lodging house,
rooming house, or hotel, to permit any room in such lodging house,
rooming house, or hotel to be usedfor sleeping purposes which
does not contain four hundred (LOO) cubic feet or more of air
space for each person sleeping therein at the same time.
SECTION 10: In every lodging house , rooming house, or hotel
there shall be provided toilets , baths and lavator-
ies in the ratio of at least one toilet , one bath and one lavat-
ory t..-o c , (S) .)ees3ons , of such number.
SECTION 11: Any landlord, proprietor, keeper, manager, clerk,
employee or other person connected with any lodging
house, roomin;s house or hotel, violating any of the provisions
of this ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon
conviction shall be punished by a fine not exceeding One Hundred
Dollars ( $100.00) . Upon conviction of a third offense under
this ordinance, the license of the offender shall be automatically
revoked and. voided.
SECTION 12: All ordinances and parts of ordinances in conflict
herewith are hereby repealed, but such repeal shall
apply only to the part of the ordinance in conflict herewith
where only a part conflicts , but shall apply to the whole of any
ordinance if the whole thereof is in conflict herewith.
SECTION 13: If any section, Dart of secton, paragraph or clause
of this ordinance shall be held to be unconstitut-
ional or void, the remaining provisions of this ordinance shall
nevertheless remain in full force and effect.
SECTION 14: This ordinance is created for the purpose of pro-
viding the machinery for the eliLlination of certain
definite obnoxious conditions , to wit : the crowding of large
numbers of people into accommodations constructed and intended
for a few. To this end, this ordinance shall be liberally con-
strued in favor of the City of Miami Beach, and such construc-
tions placed thereon as will aid the City in remedying an evil,
which, if allowed to continue unchecked., would destroy property
values and cause other irreparable injury to the taxpayers at
large.
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PASSED AND ADOPTED this 19th day of November, A. D. , 1937.
de
Mayor
ATTEST:
4010.
City Clerk
1st Reading - November 10th, 1937.
2nd Reading - November 10th, 1937.
3rd Reading - November 19th, 1937.
Posted - November 20th, 1937.
STATE OF FLORIDA)
COUNTY OF DADE )
I, C. W. TOMLINSON, City Clerk in and for
the City of Miami Beach, Florida, do hereby certify that
Ordinance No. 503 entitled "AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI
BEACH, FLORIDA, DEFINING A LODGING HOUSE, ROOMING HOUSE AND/OR
HOTEL, PROVIDING FOR THE APPLICATION FOR AND ISSUANCE OF LICENSE
THEREFOR, PROVIDING FOR CERTAIN DIMENSIONS AND OTHER REQUIRE-
MENTS FOR SLEEPING ROOMS AND TOILET FACILITIES, AND PROVIDING
PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION THEREOF" , having been passed and adopted
by the City Council of the City of Miami Beach, Florida, has
been posted by me in three conspicuous places in the City of
Miami Beach, one of which was at the door of the City Hall in
said City on the 20th day of November, A. D. , 1937, and that
said ordinance remained posted for a period of at least thirty
days in accordance with the requirements of the City Charter of
the said City of Miami Beach.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my
hand and affixed the official seal of the City of Miami Beach,
Florida, on this the lath day of January, A. D. , 1938.
City Clerk ..
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