Item - 2021.PH23.16

The Planning and Housing Committee recommends that:

1. City Council refuse the application to amend the Sign By-law to add an area-specific amendment to Schedule 'B' of Chapter 694, Signage Master Plans and Area-Specific Amendments, to replace the existing Sign By-law regulations concerning third party signs applicable to the premises municipally known as 1 York Street to allow for, and regulate, a single third party electronic projecting sign and two first party wall signs, as described in Attachment 1 to the report (May 4, 2021) from the Chief Building Official and Executive Director, Toronto Building.

The Sign By-law is a harmonized, City-wide set of regulations governing signs which was adopted by City Council in 2010. The Sign By-law contains a process for any member of the public to apply to City Council to amend the Sign By-law in order to implement significant changes to the sign regulations for a specific property or area. Applications are commonly made requesting amendments to the Sign By-law to allow signs that are prohibited, to remove permissions for signs in an area, or to modify the administrative requirements of the Sign By-law. The Chief Building Official (CBO) brings applications to amend the Sign By-law together on an annual basis for City Council consideration, so that City Council can more easily assess the overall and cumulative impact of these applications on the city's built environment, and the Sign By-law itself.

This report responds to an application for an amendment to the Sign By-law to replace the existing regulations for third party signs for 1 York Street, with regulations which would allow for one third party electronic projecting sign with two sign faces, directed to the east and southwest and facing the F.G. Gardiner Expressway (the Proposed Electronic Sign) and two first party wall signs directed north displaying static copy (the Proposed Wall Signs, and collectively the Proposed Signs). The property at 1 York Street is located in a Commercial Residential (CR) Sign District, which does not permit third party electronic projecting signs.

Menkes Developments Inc. (the "Applicant") also seeks to establish regulations which would modify the permitting regulations for third party signs at 1 York Street to allow for the Proposed Electronic Sign to be issued a sign permit which would have a ten-year duration, double the permit length for other third party signs set out in the Sign By-law. 

In addition to the expanded permit timeframe, the proposed amendment would allow for the Proposed Electronic Sign to be located approximately five metres from the F.G. Gardiner Expressway, contrary to an area-specific restriction set out in the Sign By-law which does not permit third party signs within 400 metres of the F.G. Gardiner Expressway.

Toronto Building, in consultation with City Planning and Transportation Services, reviewed the application, and does not support the proposal as it is not consistent with the traffic safety requirements or objectives of the Sign By-law. For the reasons set out in this report, the CBO does not support amending the Sign By-Law for 1 York Street.