Brooks council votes 4–2 to delay snow-removal sign while new sign bylaw remains unfinished

Brooks council voted 4–2 on Monday to table a portable sign permit application for a local snow-removal business, deferring any decision until the city adopts a new portable sign bylaw that has not yet been written into final form, according to the Oct. 26 regular council meeting.

Director Tiffin, presenting the item in the absence of the development control officer, told council the applicant had applied to place a third portable sign on a privately owned parcel at 879 3rd Street West. City rules cap portable signs at two per parcel, meaning the application required a major variance. Tiffin said the parcel has 62 metres of vacant frontage, giving the proposed sign good separation from the two existing signs, and that staff recommended council approve the variance.

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Coun. Johnson argued council was wrong to block the sign while the new bylaw remained unresolved. "This is a huge property," Coun. Johnson said during Monday's council meeting. "If you look at where this sign is going, you wouldn't even know that this was attached to that original property. This is underutilized parcel of that, right? ... This is where we're going to get it wrong, is because that's a huge frontage and we are eliminating the possibility of a small business in our town that doesn't have Main Street access, that doesn't have the ability to advertise with building frontage or anything like that where they can put it on a building, this is their only way to advertise sign-wise in this area, right?"

Coun. Idriss moved to table the application until the new portable sign bylaw comes back to council. "Being subjective here and there is not — doesn't send this the right message to the public, to the business community," Coun. Idriss said during Monday's council meeting. "Having it through very clear measures — this is what we are doing and this is where we are going, and that is something that we can testify and we can be behind."

Coun. Philipson had already come out against the sign on different grounds. "We're working on a new sign bylaw and possibly limiting the — I don't agree with this 3rd sign on the property, even if there is space," Coun. Philipson said during Monday's council meeting. "So open areas are okay, and there is already too many signs. So let's start right now and deny this one because this sign does not meet the criteria of a minor variance to start with."

Tiffin cautioned council that timing could be a problem for the applicant. "We know this applicant wants to get their sign put out prior to the winter season so that they can advertise snow clearing, and we were nervous that our portable sign bylaw amendments would take much longer than that," Tiffin said during Monday's council meeting. "Council certainly can table it, but the applicant may just try to find another place for the sign in the meantime."

A senior staff member also told council the application falls under the portable sign bylaw rather than the land use bylaw, meaning the statutory deadline that applies to development permits does not apply here.

Tiffin confirmed that under the proposed bylaw changes, a third sign on a parcel with the frontage in question would likely be permissible. A senior staff member added, however, that council feedback had not yet been incorporated and the final shape of the bylaw was not settled. Staff said the bylaw would likely return first to a council committee meeting before coming to a full council vote.

The portable sign bylaw is expected to come before a Brooks council committee meeting before returning to a regular council meeting for a vote.