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July 30, 2018 - 4:13 PM
KELOWNA - A "confusing and contradictory” bylaw governing the placement of signs on Kelowna buildings and properties has finally been corrected.
In its place, council approved a zoning-based bylaw that more clearly shows what kinds of signs are allowed and where they can be put up, community planning manager Ryan Smith told council.
The bylaw also takes aim at portable signs, limiting their location and duration, while requiring landlords to more closely monitor their use by tenants.
Previously, staff had proposed a full ban on portable signs used by many small businesses but revised for the final draft, instead postponing the ban for three years while limiting the text and imagery.
Digital LED signs will no longer be considered except for text-based signs on public service buildings such churches and schools.
Sidewalk sandwich boards, on the other hand, will be popping up at more local businesses as the new bylaw ends a ban on their placement anywhere other than Bernard Avenue.
Real estate signs will be split into residential and commercial categories and limited to six months, although political election signs are not covered.
Enforcing the new bylaw will fall to a new bylaw officer hired specifically to deal with signage, and paid for by fees and fines associated with the new bylaw.
Kelowna council unanimously backed the new sign bylaw, made brave perhaps by the three-year review built into it, the point where community planning manager Ryan Smith said the council can tinker with the bylaw should changes to tastes and technology warrant it.
Mayor Colin Basran said he thought the new bylaw could have gone a little further in controlling bad signage but conceded the new bylaw to be “good middle ground."
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