Thursday, August 7th, 2008 ::: Etobicoke

Shortly before amalgamation, the City of Etobicoke passed an amendment to its signs by-law permitting third party roof sign for the very first time. The by-law came with the provision that any lot upon which a roof sign is built must be more than 61 metres away from a residential lot:

Section 215-22-4c: The minimum distance from any residential zone to the site on which the standard outdoor advertising roof sign is erected shall be 61 metres

In the former City of Toronto, for example, the separation requirement is 10 metres, so this is a significant barrier. For example, along Rexdale Boulevard west of Martin Grove, while both sides of the street are industrial, there is a residential zone to the north of the north side of the street. As a result, you will see billboards on the south side of Rexdale west of Martin Grove, but not the north. Unfortunately, the by-law is quite often being ignored and the City is issuing permits to build signs too close to residential zones. This is Pattison’s roof sign at 719 Kipling Avenue:

The nearby residential lot at 77 Stock Ave is less than 20 metres away from the lot line of 719 Kipling:

Furthermore, it is less than 61 metres from the sign itself to 77 Stock Ave. There are lots of roof signs in Etobicoke just like this and we’ll find every one.