Councillor demands tougher sign regulations

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This article was published 19/01/2011 (5403 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City hall needs to re-examine its bylaws that govern electronic advertising signs as technology continues to evolve, says one city councillor.

Coun. Harvey Smith (Daniel McIntyre) said he plans to address the issue with council in the coming weeks in the wake of a decision that saw the city order the removal of a controversial electronic sign downtown.

“This is a new, innovative direction that has to be handled and has to be regulated,” Smith said.

On Jan. 11, the city’s property and development committee voted to remove a three-story sign that was illegally constructed on the side of Portage Avenue’s Boyd Building downtown and which subsequently drew the ire of local residents.

Digital advertising has becoming more common, with some of the most notable signs being erected outside the MTS Centre, Advance Electronics and Canwest Place, all located on Portage Avenue.

Smith said the city now must consider the changing nature of advertising, and what conditions, if any, should be imposed on electronic message centres. He believes the signs are a nuisance and pose a safety concerns for residents and motorists. Smith would especially like to see the signs outlawed near residential areas.

“The city is inexperienced with this, and it becomes obvious when you have them what their problems are,” he said. “We have to do something on city council regarding these signs.

“It’s a distraction. We have a new law against cellphones, I think we should have stronger regulations with these electronic signs.”

However, a Manitoba Public Insurance spokesperson said the onus is on drivers to make sure they don’t fall prey to the litany of distractions that surround them while driving.

“We know that driver distraction does lead to crashes, that’s an obvious statement,” said MPI spokesman Brian Smiley. “But the expectation is on the driver to remain focused on task at hand and that’s driving.

“There are internal and external distractions…a driver fiddling around trying to insert CDs in their CD player, having conversation with passengers, or looking at a child in the backseat,” he said. “To eliminate (all distractions) would be very difficult.”

While the Boyd Building sign has become a lightning rod for the issue, other businesses say they’ve received few complaints.

“The only time we had any comments from neighbours in the area was when we were in test mode and the auto-dimming mode wasn’t in operation and it was a bit bright at night,” said Peter Bernatsky, operations manager for AdvancePro, which handles Advance Electronics’ digital sign.

Bernatsky said the sign is programmed to dim at sunset and to be as least flashy as possible, a requirement when it was installed.

“We’ve been very conscious to control brightness and tailor content so there’s less flashing and cause less distraction.”

Bernatsky admitted that clearer bylaws regarding electronic advertising signage might not be a bad idea.

 “We would like to the city to establish proper digital messaging etiquette. Having guidelines in place for the nature of the content and how it’s presented needs to perhaps be clarified to avoid situations like this,” he said.

matt.preprost@canstarnews.com