Item - 2021.PH23.18

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 establish regulations applicable to the premises municipally known as 270 Evans Avenue to require the removal of the existing third party sign and to allow for, and regulate, in addition to the signage otherwise permitted by the Sign By-law, a third party electronic ground sign, 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 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 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 concerning 270 Evans Avenue with regulations which would allow the property to display a third party electronic ground sign (the Proposed Sign), which is in contravention of numerous provisions of the Sign By-law and require the removal of an existing third party sign displaying static copy (the Existing Sign).

Specifically, Branded Cities (the "Applicant") seeks City Council to establish regulations which would modify the permitting regulations for third party signs at 270 Evans Avenue and allow for the Proposed 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, and regulate, a third party electronic sign which would be closer to other third party electronic signs than otherwise permitted, as well as being more than three times larger and almost three metres higher than what is typically permitted by the Sign By-Law. The amendment would also allow the Proposed Sign to be located approximately 33 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.

Currently, 270 Evans Avenue contains a third party ground sign displaying static sign copy with a sign face area of approximately 111.5 square metres and a height of 17.2 metres (the "Existing Sign"). The Existing Sign was granted variances by Etobicoke York Community Council under the predecessor Sign By-law (Etobicoke Municipal Code Chapter 215) in 2008.

Toronto Building, in consultation with Transportation Services, conducted a thorough review of the application, and has concluded that the Applicant's rationale 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 270 Evans Avenue.