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A sign of things to come

City officials sought input on Wednesday from residents regarding an issue appearing to be a sign of the times.

City officials sought input on Wednesday from residents regarding an issue appearing to be a sign of the times.

An open house was held on Wednesday afternoon at City Hall for a draft bylaw which, if approved by City Council, would permit the use of digital signs throughout Sault Ste. Marie.

“Digital signs are a sign of the time,” said Wayne Hudson (shown above with Ward 5 Councilor Frank Fata), owner of Way Safe Communications, a company which sells LED signs. “As opposed to traditional signs, you can advertise a lot more for a lot less money.”

Around a year ago, Peter Tonazzo, city planner, said the City started to receive inquiries from business owners about the use of digital signage.

“The current bylaw is really an amalgamation of a bunch of different bylaws. It's quite old, inconsistent and we needed to make a change to properly address this issue,” he said.

Since the draft bylaw became public, Tonazzo has had formal discussions with three local businesses.

The draft bylaw would permit the use of digital signs on LED, LCD and plasma screens or projectors.

When drafting the bylaw, Tonazzo said the City looked what other communities in North America have implemented.

He added most communities in Southern Ontario have been permitting digital signs for some time and Sudbury is currently in the process of introducing a bylaw permitting digital signage.

“We feel we're pretty consistent to other cities in terms of regulations, especially when it comes to specific things like sign size and location,” he said.

In the draft bylaw, it’s stated that sign flashing, scrolling, fading and showing video will be prohibited.

The City will be monitoring the brightness of signs and the bylaws stipulates all digital signs must be equipped with a light sensor to ensure the brightness does not exceed 3.23 lux (0.3 foot candles) above ambient light conditions.

Also included in the potential bylaw is a section that says digital sign copy shall be displayed continuously in a static manner and without change for a time period not less than one minute.

Tonazzo said most business owners interested in digital signage took issue with the length of time they would need to display information.

Hudson feels one minute is much too long and thinks people won't stare at a sign for over a minute.

He added business owners want to get as much information out as possible in short time span.

Domenic Coccimiglio, owner of Bridgetown Realty Inc., was one of those interested business owners who stopped by the open house and he agreed with Hudson.

“There are a few small changes I'd like to see,” said Coccimiglio. “The time of the message on the board is too long and if they don't change how close the signs can be to lights it may not work for my business.”

In the draft bylaw, it states the City will issue permits only if your sign is a hundred metres away from an intersection and breaking the law will result in a fine under the Provincial Offences Act

Coccimiglio said his potential sign would fall within 100 metres of an intersection.

The city has formed a committee dealing with the draft bylaw and Tonazzo will be taking the concerns heard from locals to them.

In regards to the one minute the city is proposing advertisements to stay up for, Tonazzo found in his research the average time for other cities to be between six to 15 seconds.

Tonazzo said the City expects to formally present a final version of the bylaw to City Council at the May 14 meeting.


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