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Home My WebLink AboutPD-053-01 K , DN: P0530t THE CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON REPORT PUBLIC MEETING Meeting: General Purpose and Administration Committee File# 7J7 Res. #611J-1'fYO ( - By-law #)00/-/0 3 Date: Tuesday, June 4,2001 Report #: PD-053-01 FILE #: SBA 2001-01 (X-REF: PLN 8.13) Subject: SIGN BY-LAW AMENDMENT REMOVAL DEPOSIT AND PERMIT FEES FILE: SBA 2001-01 (X-REF: PLN 8.13) Recommendations: It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee recommend to Council the following: 1. THAT Report PD-053-01 be received; 2. THAT the amendment to Sign By-law No. 97-157 as contained in Attachment No. I to this report, be APPROVED; and 3. THAT all interested parties listed in this report and any delegations be advised of Council's decision. 1. BACKGROUND On April 30th, Clarington Council authorized the Planning Department to place notice in local newspapers of Council's intention to amend Sign Bylaw 97-157. In accordance with Section 207 (146) of the Municipal Act, notice was placed in the Canadian Statesman and the Orono Times on May 16, 2001. Subsequent notice appeared in the May 30th issues of these papers. 2. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE SIGN BY-LAW In a recent review of the Municipality's Sign By-law, it was found that application fees, which were originally established at a very low rate, needed to be revised. It was also found that temporary signs for which permits had been issued, were not being removed in accordance with the provisions of the By-law. The number of temporary signs any 601 REPORT NO.: PD-053-01 PAGE 2 business may apply for within a year has also been examined. Other items were reviewed including the provision that allows the Ministry of Transportation to have jurisdiction with respect to signage along their highway corridors, and for consistency, a small revision to one of the categories on a regulation tables is proposed. The proposed amendment to the By-law is included as Attachment 1 to this report. The following provides a brief explanation ofthe changes proposed to the Sign By-law. 2.1 Review of Application Fees and Removal Security Deposit 2.1.1 The Planning Department recently undertook a review all of the Department's application fees that can be collected under the Planning Act which resulted in an increase in all fees including an annual fee increase for the next three years. The fees associated with the Sign By-law are collected under the requirements of the Municipal Act and are incorporated within the text of the Sign By-law and as such were not included within the recently approved fee schedule. 2.1.2 The fees for a sign permit were minimal, being $10.00 for a temporary sign and $25.00 for a permanent sign to a maximum permit fee of $100.00. These fees do not reflect the amount of staff time involved in processing applications, but were established at this deflated value in the hope that the application fee was not identified as a barrier to applicants. A review of other municipalities identified that Clarington's sign permit fees are the lowest (see Attachment 2). It is time now to increase the fees and to streamline the fee schedule. Since Staff have found that there is no difference between the amount of time spend reviewing applications for temporary or permanent sign permits, it is recommended that there be one fee. The maximum permit fee has also been eliminated as this was rarely used. As with other Planning Department fees, these fees have also been indexed over a three year period. 2.1.3 New to the fee structure is the Removal Security Deposit. This deposit applies only to temporary signs. The Municipality has found that in more cases than not, temporary signs 602 REPORT NO.: PD-053-01 PAGE 3 have not been removed. It is anticipated that this deposit will help to ensure that temporary signs are removed in accordance with the provisions of the By-law by the applicanUowner. The deposit is $250.00, and is to be paid upon receipt of a sign permit application. The proposed deposit will be returned in full to the payee upon proof that the temporary sign has been removed in accordance with the provisions of the By-law. The Treasury Department has been consulted on this issue and has agreed to, and established an account, to administer the Removal Security Deposit. 2.1.4 Lastly, the fee schedule has been removed from the text of the By-law and attached as Schedule 2 to the By-law enabling future fee amendments to have no impact on the structure and text ofthe By-law. 2.2 Temporary Sif<ns 2.2.1 These signs are temporary in nature and are permitted for 60 days at a time. Mobile signs are only permitted as temporary signs in accordance with Section 4.3 of the Sign By-law. The proposed amendment includes adding the word "temporary" to the definition of mobile sign (Section 2 of the Sign By-law), ensuring that the By-law is clear in that a mobile sign is only permitted as a temporary sign. 2.2.2 The amendment also proposes reducing the number of temporary signs a business may have in one year from 4 to 3 signs. The intent of temporary signs is to provide businesses with the opportunity to advertise a special activity or event such as announcing the opening of a new business, or a special promotion event such as an anniversary sale. Four permitted temporary signs within a year was felt to be too many for anyone business. 2.3 Removal of Ministry of Transportation Jurisdiction The Ministry of Transportation has the right to issue sign permits within their highway corridors. Currently the By-law states that where the Ministry of Transportation has jurisdiction, the Municipality's By-law is silent. The Ministry of Transportation supports 603 REPORT NO.: PD-053-01 PAGE 4 the amendment to remove this provision. Clarington is the only municipality in the GT A where the Ministry of Transportation has retained jurisdiction over sign permitting within their corridors. It is important to note that highway directional and safety signs are not affected by this change. The Ministry of Transportation will retain their ability to place these signs where warranted. 2.4 Administration 2.4.1 A number of changes have been made to the Section 5 (Administration) of the By-law. Many of these changes provide appropriate wording to incorporate changes necessary to implement the Removal Security Deposit. Other changes to this section include those necessary to move the fee schedule from the text of the By-law. 2.4.2 One other change to the Administration Section included removing the exemption provided to Community Service Signs from submitting a sign permit. A Community Service Sign is a temporary sign announcing a community function event sponsored by a non-profit organization. These types of signs are currently exempt from paying any sign permit fees and this provision has not been changed. However, when charitable events were enquiring about signage, they were asked to provide information as to the proposed location of the signage to ensure that the signs did not pose any safety hazards to pedestrians or vehicles. This information is equivilant to the information required for a sign permit. It is proposed that the By-law be revised to remove this exemption, requiring that a permit be submitted for Community Service Signs. 3. PUBLIC SUBMISSIONS 3.1 There have been no verbal or written submissions or inquiries regarding proposed amendment with the exception of the Ministry of Transportation. The Ministry has no objections. ~ 604 REPORT NO.: PD-053-01 PAGE 5 4. RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1 It is recommended that the amendment to Sign By-law 97-157 as proposed in Attachment I to this report be approved. Reviewed by, o~-~ Davi . rome, M.C.I.P., RP.P. Director of Planning & Development HB*BN*DC*df Franklin Wu, M.C.I.P., RP.P. Chief Administrative Officer. 25 May 2001 7 605 THE CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPAL TIY OF CLARINGTON BY-LAW NUMBER 2001- being a by-law to amend Sign By-law 97-157, as amended of the Municipality of Clarington WHEREAS Chapter MA5, Subsection 207(146) of the Municipal Act, R.S.O, 1990, as amended, provides for the creation and amendment of By-laws regulating or prohibiting the erection of signs and provides for the charging of fees for inspection and/or issuing of permits and for the pulling down or removal of contravening signs; AND WHEREAS the Council of the Corporation of the Municipality of Clarington deems it advisable to amend By-law 97-157, as amended, of the Corporation of the Municipality of Clarington; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Council of the Corporation of the Municipality ofClarington enacts as follows: I, "Section 2 - DEFINITIONS is hereby amended as follows; (I) by amending the definition of "Sign, Mobile" to include the word "temporary" before the word "sign". (ii) by adding a new definition "Removal Security Deposit" after the definition of "Region" . "REMOV AL SECURITY DEPOSIT" refers to the fee identified in Schedule 2 to this By-law, 2. Deleting Section "3,9 MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION APPROVAL" in its entirety and renumbering the following sections accordingly. 3, Amend Section 43 TABLE C as follows: by amending the Identification Sign requirements for Community Facility by adding the word "or" before "20%". 4, "Section 5 - ADMINISTRATION is hereby amended as follows; (i) by amending Section 504 PLANS REQUIRED by removing the words "community service sign," (ii) by amending Section 5.5.2 by removing the words "a community service sign," and by deleting the last 3 sentences in their entirety, being "A permit for a temporary sign including a mobile sign shall expire within 60 days of the date of erection of the sign. Upon expiry of the permit, the sign must be removed within 48 hours. If the sign is not removed, the Municipality may remove it at the landowner's expense." 606 ATTACHM ENT 1 . - 2 - (iii) by deleting Section 5,5,3 in its entirety and replacing it with the following; "In the case of temporary signs including a mobile sign, a maximum of three (3) permits may be issued within a twelve (12) month period for the same business provided that a minimum 28 days has elapsed between the expiry of the last permit and the temporary sign has been removed in accordance with Section 5.5.5 ofthis By-law." by deleting Section 5.5.4 in its entirety and replacing it with the following; (iv) "A permit for a temporary sign including a mobile sign shall expire within 60 days of the erection date as identified on the permit application. Where an erection date is not provided, the effective date for the purpose of this section shall be the date the permit is received," (v) by renumbering Section 5.5,5 to 5.5,7 and adding a new Section 5.5.5. as follows; ''Upon expiry ofa permit identified in Section 5.5.4, the temporary sign must be removed within 48 hours and the Municipality must be informed in writing of the removal of said temporary sign. If the temporary sign is not removed and the Municipality does not receive written notification within five (5) working days, the removal security deposit will not be refunded and the Mwricipality may remove the temporary sign at the landowner's expense." (vi) by renumbering Section 5,5,6 to 5.5.8 and adding a new Section 5,5,6 as follows: "Notwithstanding Sections 5,5.4 and 5,5,5. a pennit for apromotional construction sign shall expire within one year from the date of erection of said temporary sign. Upon expiry ofthe permit, the temporary sign must be removed within 48 hours and the Municipality must be informed in writing of the removal of the said temporary sign. Ifthe temporary sign is not removed and the Municipality does not receive written notification \yithin five (5) working days, the removal security deposit is not refunded and the Mwricipality may remove the temporary sign at the landowner's expense. Notwithstanding the above, an application for a successive permit may be made prior to expiry of the preceding permit. Issuance of the permit must occur prior to expiry of the preceding permit to avert the required removal of the promotional construction sign." (vii) by deleting Section 5,6 FEE REQUIRED in its entirety and replace it with the following: "5.6 PERMIT FEE AND REMOVAL SECURITY DEPOSIT 5,6.1 No plans for any sign shall be accepted by the Director ofplarming or his/her designate until fees have been paid for the review and inspection of the said plans, as prescribed by Schedule 2 to this By-law." (viii) by adding a new Section 5,6.2 as follows: "5.6.2 For every temporary sign that is required to pay a permit fee, a deposit shall be collected in accordance with the rates prescribed in Schedule 2 as a security for the removal of the temporary sign. The Removal Security Deposit shall be paid when an application for a temporary sign permit is made. Said deposit shall be refunded only if the temporary sign is removed as prescribed in Section 5.5,5 or 5,5.6 of this By-law." (ix) by amending Section 5.8.3 by adding the following "and the removal security deposit will not be refunded." after the words "within 48 hours", 607 - 3 - 5, Adding a new schedule to the By-law entitled "Schedule 2 to Sign By-Law 97-157 PERMIT FEE AND REMOVAL SECURITY DEPOSIT SCHEDULE" after Schedule I to Sign By-Law 97-157 HERlTAGE RESOURCE AREAS, "Schedule 2 to Sign By-Law 97-157 PERMIT FEE and REMOVAL SECURITY DEPOSIT SCHEDULE FEES SCHEDULE Effective Dates Sign Permit Fee Community Service (non-refundable) Temporary Sign Permit June 11,2001 to December 31,2001 $ 30,00 Nil January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2002 $ 35,00 Nil January 1,2003 to December 31, 2003 $ 40,00 Nil REMOVAL SECURITY DEPOSIT - $ 250.00 6, This By-law shall come into effect on the date of the passing hereof, BY-LAW read a first time this day of 2001 BY -LAW read a second time this day of 2001 BY-LAW read a third time and finally passed day of 2001 MAYOR CLERK 608 ATTACHMENT 2 Comparison of Fees Temporary Signs Municipality Application Fee for 2 Deposit Comments Months display period Required Oshawa $25.00 No Charge $50.00 for 120 days , Whitby I, $75.00 No Ajax $25.00 No Pickering $100.00 No Charge $150.00 for 3 months Brampton $100.00 No Mississauga $180.00 No Charge $25.00 for 7 days, $60.00 for 21 days Oakville $60.00 No Charge $15.00 for 15 days Hamilton $140.00 No Charge $35.00 for 2 weeks Burlington $140.00 No Charge $35.00 for every 15 days Cobourg $40.00 No Charge $20.00 for every 4 weeks Vaughan $150.00 No Charge $75.00 per month Markham $200.00 No Charge $50.00 for 15 days and $100.00 for 30 days . 609