Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 ::: City Hall: Variances
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“Would you please cease and desist from such practices”

-Councillor Adam Vaughan to Abcon Outdoor’s John McMulkin, Toronto and East York Community Council, yesterday

Some bad news at yesterday’s Toronto and East York Community Council, but first the good news. Abcon applied for variances to erect the following third party fascia sign at 1670 Bayview:

This wall is very well known in Toronto’s advertising industry. This wall has been remarkably free of third party signage because no advertising company was willing to erect a sign here. Pattison, CBS, Astral Media and every leasing guy in the City knows this wall very well. They know the wall because they each wanted to put a third party sign here but couldn’t because the wall requires a variance to residential setback regulations.

Of course, when Abcon made its application to Community Council yesterday, Abcon didn’t apply for the required variance to residential setback. In other words, even if Abcon obtained the variance they applied for, height, they wouldn’t have been able to obtain a permit for the sign.

What happened at Community Council was interesting. IllegalSigns.ca made a deputation against the sign; then, on a motion from Councillor Mihevc, Community Council rejected the variance for the sign. Abcon wanted to make a deputation to support their sign, but Community Council voted to reject their variance before Abcon got a chance to speak. Here’s what happened. Not only did Abcon not apply for the required variance to residential setback, Abcon applied to make a deputation for the wrong sign. Rather than registering to speak about 1670 Bayview Avenue, Abcon registered to speak about 481 Church Street, a Titan sign:

So first McMulkin applied for the wrong variance, then he’s down as registering to speak on the wrong sign. Would you trust this man to put a sign on your wall? After Community Council rejected the variance for 1670 Bayview, John McMulkin seriously raised his temper with our city councillors. Here is is losing his cool:

John asked if he could address Community Council. Councillor Rae told him: “That’s a bad idea.” Community Council voted to re-open the item so John could speak. This was indeed a bad idea because it gave Councillor Adam Vaughan the opportunity to get McMulkin on the record as admitting that Abcon Outdoor has offered “community benefits” to City Councilors in exchange for variances. “We’re green at this,” protested John. “Would you please cease and dessist from such practices,” responded Adam Vaughan.

Meanwhile, Sid Catalano of Pattison Outdoor sat in the audience with a massive smirk on his face, laughing at McMulkin behind his back because he knew the permit would not be forthcoming even if the height variance was granted due to the lack of residential setback variance. After all, Sid Catalano himself went after that very same wall years ago. Stop laughing because we’re going to nail you, Sid.

Meanwhile, the bad news. Councillor Rae supported Titan Outdoor’s variance application for two fascia signs and two ground signs at the Salvation Army hospital at 650 Church Street. Yesterday, Community Council actually granted the “variances” for these signs after well-organized deputations made by the Salvation Army people:

Bloor and Church won’t be liberated for much longer. We are disappointed in Councillor Rae and the other Councillors who deferred to the local councillor on this issue despite Councillor Perks’ best efforts to kill the signs. Perks, Davis, McConnell and Fletcher voted against the signs wereas two normally reliable councillors, Mihevc and Vaughan, defered to Rae. That’s the culture on TEY CC.

Meanwhile, the other third party variances on the agenda were rejected or withdrawn.

Abcon submitted a surveyor’s report stating that there are no third party signs within 60M of 1670 Bayview; this caused staff to change their recommendation to supporting the sign. Councillor Michael Walker initially supported the staff recommendation and moved that it be adopted and the variance granted. After Councillor Mihevc spoke, Walker decided to withdraw his motion and then supported Mihevc’s motion to reject the new staff recommendation.