Gov't & Regulatory Affairs

Letter of Appreciation for our help

The BC Chapter of the Sign Association of Canada worked extensively with the City of Kamloops and their review of Electronic Message Centres.
David Atkinson from the BC Chapter was instrumental in assisting the City with the development of its regulations as well as providing various studies and background information.

At the Recent UBCM conference in Sept 2011, the BC Chapter had a booth where the Sign Association was able to field questions and offer suggestions and services to a vast array of municipalities that dropped by the Booth.

The BC Chapter welcomes all inquiries pertaining to municipalities from all parties.  Municipal officials to customers, we are here to help!

Attached is the letter from the City of Kamloops.

Related File Downloads

Letter of Appreciation from Kamloops

Letter of Thanks from MTO

For the past 2 years, the Ontario Chapter of the Sign Association of Canada has been working extensively with the Ministry of Transportation to revise its sign bylaws.   To that end, there have been many successes which have benefited our industry tremendously.

One item that was a constant issue which had not been resolved was the issue of the highway expansion and re-classification in northern Ontario.  These rural areas which in the past benefited from being identified as bush country were permitted signage along certain highways which would not be permitted in other areas of Ontario. This was due to the fact that the highways were less travelled and the areas were distinct in their environs.  With the expansion of the highways to four lanes and 100km per hour the Ministry automatically re-classified these as Class 1 which meant that the bush country exemption could not be applied. 

We were able to; through the formation of a grass roots initiative; harbour support and gain a powerful voice that was able to demonstrate that the environs had not changed and that the classification of bush country should remain.

This grass roots initiative was able to secure the involvement of Local, Provincial and business officials.  Here is a partial list of who were involved:

Northern Advertisers Association of Ontario (NAAO) – focused on letter writing campaign.
Sudbury Chamber of Commerce - Full support. Instrumental in access to the Ministers Office.
North Bay Chamber of Commerce - Full support. Organizing meeting with Nipissing MPP.
Sudbury MPP, Rick Bartalucci.  He helped open the Minister of Transportation’s door.
Vic Fedeli (past North Bay Mayor). Tabled the issue at the Conservative Caucus meeting.
Muskoka MPP, Norm Miller. In support of keeping the existing billboards on Hwy 11.
CFIB – letter of support
Meetings with local Municipalities: Powassan, Central Almaguin Economic Development Association (Cover Sundridge, South River, Strong, Joly & Machar) & Burk’s Falls.
Meeting with MPP Klees Conservative Transportation Critic.

After extensive work, the Ministry of Transportation considered our request and amended its bylaws to allow the continued use of these signs.  They rescinded the orders to remove that had been issued in 2010 to the owners of the signs.

A hearty congratulations is sent out to all who generously donated their time and effort to this cause.

The new MTO Regulations and details can be found at the MTO Web site here:
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/engineering/management/corridor/signs.shtml
 

Related File Downloads

mto_thank_you_letter.pdf

Electronic Message Centres Lighting Study

The City of Toronto conducted a study to evaluate the impact of Digital LED boards vers regular billboard signs or paper boards.

This lighting study concludes that Digital LED boards are less of an impact than traditional paper boards.

Read the report by clicking the attached link.

Related File Downloads

Toronto Sign Bylaw Unit lighting study

Revisions to the Sign Bylaw

On Sept 28th, the BC Chapter had a booth at the Union of BC Municipalities convention. The opportunities presented to the Association was the ability to meet and demonstrate to a large contingency of BC Municipal officials the services of the Sign Association and to be able to offer assistance in drafting of regulations.

The first municipality to take us up on this offer was Osoyoos. On Oct 11th, David Atkinson and Cy from Five Star Permits met with the Town on behalf of the BC Chapter to begin the process of discussion and assistance.

This is a work in progress but it is the beginning of what can be a real offering to this association on behalf of its members.