Too many portable signs are making an unsightly town, says one Erin resident.
Liz Crighton appeared before council on Nov. 7 to “start a conversation” and ask for more guidelines on the posting of signs.
The town has a sign bylaw from 2004 that allows portable signs to be displayed for a maximum of 30 consecutive days from the date of the permit issuance, with a limit of four sign permits annually per property.
Crighton came to council in 2015 “upset by all the ugly signs” in the town.
“When we look at walking into our beautiful little town it’s cluttered with mobile signs,” she said.
She offered suggestions to clean up the streetscape, including:
– event signs must not be up more than 24 hours before the event and must be removed right after the event; and
– mobile directional signs to be taken down once the event or listing is either sold or no longer active.
Crighton also suggested stickers could be used to differentiate signs that have permits and those that do not.
“My thought would be if we had a workable, easier method of administering it, I think we would follow the guidelines and it would be a positive,” she said.
Mayor Allan Alls suggested stakeholders from the real estate industry and others should work together and communicate with town staff for a better sign bylaw.
CAO Nathan Hyde said council would have to consider opening the entire sign bylaw for review.
“From a staff perspective I think what we would prefer to do is reopen the entire sign bylaw instead of just looking at one-offs or small pieces,” said Hyde.
“And if it is the direction of council, and if you feel there is an issue, we can certainly go back and re-open the sign bylaw and make recommendations to come forward.”
Hyde added changes to the sign bylaw could affect other signs in the community, including the turtle crossing signs that were put up last year.
“It’s also an enforcement issue because we have a part-time bylaw officer right now,” said Hyde.
“If we are talking about a bylaw that has teeth and is going to be enforceable, council’s going to have to consider a request that will come forward to make our bylaw officer full-time as well.
“Ultimately, it depends; does council think that there’s an issue here? If you’d like to open it, certainly we can go back to staff and bring forward recommendations for the entire bylaw.”
Council accepted Crighton’s delegation as information.
