Sign not welcome, not yet

An illegally erected illuminated sign put up by Don-O-Ray Farm must go dark, but city council left the door open for future illumination.

Owners of the property were before council Monday to plead their case to keep the sign lit, saying they hired a company new to the city who did not understand the bylaw against illuminated signs on agricultural properties.

“We did not know the rules. I apologize,” the owner told council.

City staff came out against the request to legitimize the sign saying it would create a precedent in the community for electronic signs.

“The only place we allow for electronic signs under the current sign bylaw is institutional and educational facilities,” said development planning manager Dean Strachan.

“Specifically, the council in the past has restricted electronic signs to those uses and not allowing them in commercial or other operations.

“This would set a precedence to allow for other signs or applications for other signs in the community so staff have provided a strong recommendation on this one.

Strachan says other farm operations have shown interest in similar signage for their businesses, and if council says yes to this application there will be pressure from those operators and commercial locations to approve their applications as well.

He added while there have been no complaints from neighbours, there have been from other businesses demanding to know why this is being allowed.

Planning director Ryan Smith added the city has been pushing back on commercial properties who want these types of signs for years.

“Staff are very concerned whether it’s in an agricultural context or a commercial context that more of this signage starts to degrade the urban environment on our streets,” said Smith.

“One bright sign may not seem like a big deal but I think this has the potential to snowball into potentially dozens of requests over the next couple of years which is why staff are here for this particular one.”

Council sided with staff’s recommendation 5-2 with councillors Mohini Singh and Ron Cannan supporting the farm. Councillors Maxine DeHart and Charlie Hodge were absent.

However, at the request of Mayor Tom Dyas, the door was left open for reconsideration in the spring.

“What we’ve said is let's make the sign conforming, let’s turn off the electrical aspect of it,” said Dyas.

“They said they are pretty well closed from December to spring and, in that time frame I have asked staff to bring back to us the sign bylaw so we can review it and see if there is a possibility of allowing this to be conforming at all, maybe along certain corridors.

“Are there supportive corridors, Benvoulin, KLO or some that are not so much within residential areas but have those types of businesses on them?”

Staff will bring back the bylaw sometime in the next few months.

Meantime, owners can keep the sign up, but it must be turned off.