Lance Riley, owner of Innisfail Family Billiards, decided he needed some way to point people towards his business, located a couple of blocks north of 50 Street.
“I wanted to put up a sign on the avenue side of 47th avenue and beside the service road,” he said. “On the side of Home Hardware there there's a little knob of land where they've got a tree shrub and a telephone pole, and I wanted to put a sign right up close to it.”
He got permission from the landowner, got input from an advertising association, filled out an application, and paid the $30 application fee.
At the Nov. 5 Municipal Planning Commission meeting in a motion moved by Coun. Mark Kemball and Coun. Heather Taylor his plan to put a two-foot by four-foot freestanding sign standing six feet high was denied.
“This sign was to be placed on somebody else's property, so it didn't fit the bylaw,” Kemball said. “Any signage must be on your own property.”
There is some leeway for “sandwich board” signs from time to time, he said.
“It's actually not formal yet, but we do allow them occasionally when they approach us to put up a sandwich board for a short period of time but not a permanent structure,” he said. “We're going to be addressing a lot of the signage issues throughout the town once our downtown project is finished.”
Riley wasn't happy that he had gone through the official channels instead of just trying to get away with unregulated advertising.
He went to the town office and presented them with a list of other businesses that seemed to have illegal signs and advertisements out front.
“Something's wrong here,” Riley said, adding he thinks everyone else should have to play by the rules if he does. “If they want no signs, then have no signs.”
Town officials confirmed for now they are turning a blind eye to some ongoing sign violations and will be revamping the laws that deal with signs and advertisements in 2013.
Both the Land Use Bylaw as well as town policies will come under the microscope, as the town looks at giving sign rules a makeover.
“It's usually a balance between not wanting too much clutter yet still being able to navigate, or advertise their business,” said Craig Teal, director of planning and development.
“It's usually not something anyone would get overly heavy-handed about,” said Community Peace Officer Colin Whymark.
Riley says he hopes town policies will treat all businesses equally.
“The smaller businesses have just as much right to advertise as the larger businesses of the world,” he said. “Let's put together something to figure this out.”
