Monday, March 3rd, 2008 ::: Back-Ups

In 1997 Pattison Outdoor stole CBS/Mediacom’s lease for the roof signs at 3044 Yonge Street. Problem is, Mediacom’s signs were non-conforming and could not be removed and replaced without City Council’s approval.

Pattison Outdoor applied for a variance to replace Mediacom’s signs with back-to-back 14′x48′ signs. The Toronto Land Use Committee actually recommend that City Council approve the back-to-back 14′x48’s despite a staff report from the Planning Department strongly recommending against it. This is the decision of the Land Use Committee and the associated staff report:

So the Land Use Committee asked Planning to meet with Pattison to discuss a reduction in the size of the sign before the City Council meeting.

Pattison then came back with a new proposal. The new sign was to be a north-facing 10′x40′ and a south-facing 10′x20′ with top-lighting instead of bottom-lighting. The Planning Department still recommended refusal, but City Council approved the smaller sign. This is the Planning Department’s staff report recommending against the signs.

City Council’s decision states that the approved signs are to be built in accordance with Figures 2 and 3 attached to the report:

This is Figure 2, it shows a 10′x40′ sign facing north and a 10′x20′ sign facing south:

This is Figure 3, it also shows a 10′x40′ sign facing north and a 10′x20′ sign facing south, and it also shows that the signs are to be top-lit rather than bottom lit:

This is the north face of Pattison’s sign. It is a top-lit 10′x40′ sign and was built according to approved plans:

This is the south face of Pattison’s sign. These are two bottom-lit 10′x20′. An extra, illegal 10′x20′ face has been added to the sign and the lighting is facing upwards: