Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 ::: City Hall: New By-Law

The final draft of the City’s new signs by-law and billboard tax by-law has been released. The new by-law and tax have most of what we were looking for although we would like some changes to clarify certain ambiguities in the variance process that we are concerned about.

Planning and Growth Management Committee will be considering the package on November 4 at 1:30PM.

Here is the Staff Report [PDF] and the new by-law [PDF].

Here are the details:

Illegal signs would be considered “continuing offenses.” Fines for illegal signs would be a mandatory minimum of $500/day with a maximum of $10,000/day. In addition “special fines” may be levied to “eliminate or reduce any economic advantage or gain from contravening” the by-law. So that should improve enforcement efforts.

A yearly Billboard Tax, the only of its kind in the world, will be levied as follows:

• $1,150 for 10′x20′ wall signs and Pattison Pillars;
• $2850 for single or double-sided 10′x20′ ground signs;
• $2850 for wall signs between 25 square metres and 45 square metres; and all tri-vision wall signs;
• $4,950 for most single or double-sided roof signs (those less than 45 square metres) and for tri-vision ground signs;
• $11,000 for 45 square metre or larger ground, roof and wall signs (which includes 14′x48’s and most large format wall murals and vinyls signs, but does not include 10′x40’s);
• $24,000 for any billboard containing static or moving video.

The City is taxing signs based on size and type rather than revenue as the City lacks the ability to levy a profits or revenue tax. The upshop is that the tax rate for signs does not match the revenue a sign generates, making roof signs in Scarborough the highest taxed signs as a percentage of revenue, compared to wall signs downtown which pay a tiny percentage. More signs will be made uneconomic to operate and will come down with a tax that is not linked to revenue than the alternative.

Regulations for new billboards would be stricter. Existing regulations in the Metro-By-laws would either by maintained or strengthened. New municipal restrictions would prohibit billboards within 400 Metres of provincial highways even if they are not visible from the highway, unlike current provincial restrictions which allow billboards within 400 Metres that do not face the highway.

New standard-size billboards would be permitted in Commercial and Employment Zones and Railway and Hydro lands:

• In Commercial Zones, like the current Former Toronto by-law, only wall signs would be permitted. They require a 100 M separation distance from another billboard, and a 30M separation from residential zones, and another 30M from the intersection of two streets.
• In Employment Zones, only ground signs would be permitted and with the same separations as Commercial Zones
• On Railway or Hydro lands, the same separations would apply but signs would be prohibited on stretches of land that do not intersect a street, but would be allowed within 30M of intersections, although all billboards would have to be setback 6M from the street line.

New billboards would be permitted to have tri-vision copy, but video display would not be allowed outside the special signage zones. Speaking of special signage zones, the Yonge and Dundas billboard district would substantially expand although the regulations for the district have not yet been written and are not included in the by-law.

The new set of billboard restrictions, while generally more strict than the existing non-harmonized laws, are less strict in certain respects and will therefore create new as-of-right permissions instantly. Those new as-of-rights will be mainly in Etobicoke Commercial Zones where wall signs will be permitted for the first time and in North York Employment Zones where ground signs will be permitted for the first time.

New billboards will have a 5-year renewable permit. So long as there are no zoning changes within the 5-years, the permit will be renewed.

Existing, legal signs will be not be permitted to be “substantially altered.” We’re a little disappointed that “substantially altered” is not defined in the by-law anywhere so ambiguities will continue to exist over whether an altered sign is “substantially altered.” In fact, the new law fails as an act of disambiguation and will almost certainly cause more ambiguity unless the Chief Building Official’s  interpretation guidelines are made public. Unfortunately, we have received suggestions that the guidelines will not be made public.

All in all, this is a set of billboard placement regulations that we can live with.

The variance process will also be changed. A new Sign Variance Committee of appointed citizens, along the lines of a Committee of Adjustment, will consider signs variances on a delegated basis.

However, the by-law contains a provision which allows applicants to apply for a “by-law amendment” which will be heard, not by the Sign Variance Committee, but by Planning and Growth Management Committee and City Council. The current wording of the by-law appears to allow an applicant to make an application for a by-law amendment for the exact same sign that the Sign Variance Committee rejected. We have some serious concerns that this wording will subvert the authority of the Sign Variance Committee and make it meaningless by politicizing the sign variance process.

We believe that a workable by-law amendment process should be strictly staff-initiated and we will be seeking clarification of the rational behind the amendment and variance process that appears in the final draft.

But in any case, the new laws are head and shoulders above where we are right now so this is a very good day for public space in Toronto.