16 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard: The Buildings Department Issues Another Illegal Roof Sign Permit
Long live the Queen.
After much back and forth, it appears that Buildings Department has come to the conclusion that the permit issued for the roof sign at 16 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard ought not to have been issued. It also appears that nobody can actually see the illegal QEW sign:
The sign at 16 Queen Elizabeth is the one you can’t see above the trees.
This property has an interesting history. Every west-end billboard leasing man in the City scoped out this property as a possible location. It was determined that it would be a feasible location for a ground sign, but a roof sign would not work due to the trees and the setback. It was also passed over because the sign does not comply with residential setback requirements.
And that’s where the problem resides. Last year, when the property owner applied for variances to build the sign, he never applied for or obtained the required variance to residential setback. Here’s why.
As we explained previously, residential setback requirements for roof signs in Etobicoke are calculated from the lot line of the property to the nearest residential lot line. The exact wording of the by-law is:
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
Unfortunately, when the Buildings Department calculated residential setback, they did so from the sign to the nearest residential zone. This is from the staff report:
The nearest residential zone is to the north and to the south, and is more than 130 metres from the proposed sign.
Well the nearest residential zone is indeed 130 metres from the sign, but it is about 52 metres, less than the required 61 metres, from the lot line of 16 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard according to the satellite map:
Now nobody would have found out about this if the property owner hadn’t gotten the bright idea to increase the height of his sign. He applied to next week’s Etobicoke York Community Council to increase the height; after we discovered that the required residential variance setback was missing, the agenda item was pulled from this week’s meeting - it was Item 5 PDF Agenda, Cached Agenda.
October 29th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I fully support the work that these people do, and the comments on this web site.
The city prosecutes small businesses with boulevard signs, while they ignore the bigger signs and companies. Its much easier to threaten and remove signs from the small business owners, who are the backbone of the city. I had small 2 by 2 foot sign on the front of my property, way back from the roadway. The city came and took the sign, didnt even bother knocking on my door to say anything. I think it borders on theft!
Im happy to obey the law, but it should be enforced equally for everyone.
C.Conway