An extensive report on the City of Cranbrook’s proposed sign bylaw update by the Cranbrook and District Chamber of Commerce has captured city council and administrations’ attentions.

Presented to council last night (Feb. 4) by chamber director and recently anointed Citizen of the Year Jason Wheeldon and new chamber president Mike Adams, the 33-page report offers 16 key areas with 35 recommendations.

The study, compiled by a special chamber committee, took 150 volunteer hours and cost an estimated $22,000 of in-kind effort, Wheeldon said.

“When we first struck this committee, it was our hope we could rattle off a one or two page report,” he told council, but once work began, that was clearly not going to be the case.

Because the city’s current sign bylaw dates back to 1977, the chamber recognizes the need for a re-vamped set of guidelines, he said.

A standout concern among the report committee members was in the draft sign bylaw’s suggested permit exceptions.

“The most misunderstood portion is legal non-conforming and grandfathered” when it comes to the kinds of maintenance and repairs allowed under a sign permit, Wheeldon said.

“Numerous business owners with whom the committee spoke assumed their signs would be grandfathered and their signage would not have to comply with the new bylaw. This is clearly not the case. As an example, the committee discussed concerns about damage to signs caused by windstorms that blew sign inserts out of their frames last summer (2012). Under the new bylaw, any repairs made to those signs would have required a permit, and would have been subject to all standards under the new bylaw. Simply repairing those signs so that they were back to their original state would have been an additional (and unnecessary) cost burden to those businesses,” the chamber study points out.

Other aspects of the new sign bylaw contemplated by the chamber are off premise signage, maintenance and electronic changeable copy signs, a subject of much discussion prior to the city launching a sign bylaw revamp.

“This form of signage is already evident in Cranbrook, including on school buildings and at Western Financial Place,” notes the chamber report. “Although city properties are exempt from this bylaw (for reasons unknown to the committee), the signage at Western Financial Place is an excellent example of a well-designed, aesthetically pleasing sign which delivers messages approximately every 4.5 seconds. The committee notes that existing sign would contravene not only the free-standing height requirement of the draft bylaw but also the sizing of the electronic changeable copy sign, third party advertising and the timing of the change of message.”

Furthermore, the report notes, “If it is true that the draft sign bylaw is focused on three principles (safety, business identification and aesthetics), the chamber recommends that all signs in Cranbrook, including those owned and operated by the city itself, be subject to the new sign bylaw.”

After covering a wide variety of other related aspects of the sign bylaw, the chamber report concludes, “Effective sign regulation attempts to create a balance between several competing interests. Without any clear sense of the community’s wishes (usually accomplished through regulations), a sign environment could evolve which is cluttered, unsafe, unattractive and ineffective. On the other hand, overly restrictive regulation can stifle economic activity; it creates enforcement issues and it can be a drain on public resources, which could be more beneficially directed.

“Effective sign regulation must also strike a balance between the legitimate safety and aesthetic concerns of municipalities and the rights of businesses and organizations to freedom of expression.”

Wheeldon told council it would take two hours to properly relate the findings in the study and urged them to read it through.

“We can’t foresee all the problems,” he said, “But there needs to be a development variance mechanism imbedded into the bylaw or the guideline document.”

Mayor Wayne Stetski thanked the chamber, which had several dozen members in attendance in council chambers for the presentation and for the way it approached the issue and for the report.

“As I was reading the report I found myself nodding my head quite a bit,” he admitted.

City chief engineer Jamie Hodge told council he has read the report “very, very carefully – a couple of times. It is an excellent report.”

While noting “in previous lifetimes this (sign bylaws) is one of the most difficult areas for municipalities to deal with – across the country,” he told council, “I certainly would support it (the report).”

Coun. Angus Davis said the engineer’s support speaks volumes.

“I think what we have heard from Mr. Hodge is a real endorsement. We never got this far before. We always got into a fight.”

Coun. Gerry Warner congratulated the chamber and its committee for the report. “I’m impressed by the quantity and the quality of what you’ve done,” he said.

And Coun. Diana J Scott agreed. “The report is pretty amazing. I support most of the recommendations. I am very hopeful we will get a sign bylaw this time.”

A full copy of the chamber report is available at the chamber office.

Ian Cobb/e-KNOW

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