Report to: General Committee Date Report Authored: March 1, 2010

SUBJECT: Proposed Amendments to the Town’s Election Sign Regulations

PREPARED BY: W. Wiles, x4851

RECOMMENDATION:

1) That the report entitled “Proposed Amendments to the Town’s Election Sign Regulations” be received; and,

2) That By-law 2002-94 (Sign) be amended as shown on Appendix “B”- Draft Sign By-law Amendment and on Appendix “C”- Draft New Schedule ‘G’ to Sign By-law; and,

3) That the Fees By-law (By-law 2002-276) be amended as shown on Appendix “D”; and further,

4) That Staff be authorized and directed to do all things necessary to give effect to this resolution.

PURPOSE:

To obtain Committee’s approval of the proposed amendments to the Town’s Election Sign regulations. The proposed amendments are intended to align the Town’s Election Sign regulations with those of York Region and the City of Toronto and to address concerns raised by staff, candidates and the public regarding the Town’s current election sign regulations. The proposed amending by-law is drafted using plain language to help improve comprehension and consistency. An accompanying amendment to the Town’s Fee By-law is also proposed.

BACKGROUND:

Municipalities have the authority to pass by-laws regulating election signage. The Town’s comprehensive Sign By-law 2002-94 includes Markham’s sign regulations, and applies to Federal, Provincial and Municipal Elections. Prior to the 2006 Municipal Election, Council undertook a review of Markham’s election sign regulations which resulted in amendments intended to: 1) better align Markham’s election sign regulations with those of the Region of York; 2) streamline the Town’s regulations to make them easier for candidates to understand; and 3) reduce the number of signs on public lands.

Since this time, several electoral events have taken place in Markham, including Federal and Provincial Elections and a local By-Election in 2009. Feedback from staff, candidates and the public over the course of these electoral events suggest that concerns still exist with respect to the number of election signs permitted along arterial roads in Markham. In addition, it has become clear that there are further opportunities to align the Town’s election sign regulations with those of York Region and the City of Toronto. In response to these issues, staff presented proposed draft amendments to Markham’s election sign regulations (see Appendix “A”) at the January 18, 2010 General Committee.

OPTIONS/ DISCUSSION:

Following the January 18, 2010 General Committee meeting, staff have had an opportunity to review Committee’s feedback and prepare proposed changes to Markham’s election sign regulation, outlined in the following Table:

Election Sign Amendment Table

#	Current Regulation	Proposed Amendment	Amendment Rationale
1	Election signs to be removed seven (7) days following election day.	Election signs to be removed Seventy-Two (72) hours following election day.	§ Alignment with Region of York By-law; § Majority of signs are already removed within 48 hours; § Town staff will remove all remaining signs on the Friday after the Voting Day.
2	Not included in current By-law.	Reduce number of Election Signs and better define the locations for placement of (Election) Major Road Signs.	§ Prepare a By-law Schedule denoting locations where Major Road Signs can be placed; § Eliminate current permitted locations where distance between signs is less than 400 m apart or where site line issues have been reported; § Denote Regional Road locations where signs can be placed 6 weeks ahead of election versus 4 weeks for the balance of signs
3	Not included in current By-law.	Prohibit the placement of (Election) Lawn Signs between sidewalk and the curb.	§ Current safety restrictions make the placement of signs difficult to comply with. Eliminating the placement in this area will eliminate non-compliant sign placement easier for candidates. § Address current complaints with placement of lawns signs without required approval of adjacent property owner
4	Not included in current By-law.	Implement a 1.8 m (6’) setback from a curb where no sidewalk is present and implement a 0.6 m (2’) setback from a sidewalk, where a sidewalk is present.	§ Increase in the setback to 1.8 m from the curb where no sidewalk is present from 1.0 m to address concerns with signs too close to road § Add new setback for placement of Election Signs where sidewalk exists
5	Not included in current By-law.	Implement an exception to the 0.6m sidewalk setback, where the adjoining building wall is less than 0.6 m from the sidewalk.	§ Ensure that Lawn Signs can be placed on residential properties where the building wall is less than 0.6 m from the sidewalk

Election Sign Amendment Table, Cont’d

#	Current Regulation	Proposed Amendment	Amendment Rationale
6	No restrictions on time period	Restrict signs at an Election Campaign Office to 42 days (6 weeks) prior to Voting Day and require full compliance with the Sign By-law, except for Window Signs which will be unrestricted for portion of building occupied by an Election Campaign Office only	§ Address complaints with excessive and unrestricted signage at a Campaign Office; § Alignment with Region By-law for placement of signage
7	Definition: 3.0 “Campaign Headquarters” means a retail or commercial property where a registered candidate has set up an office to conduct an election campaign.	Change in definition: Election Campaign Office: means an existing building or part thereof, the use of which is provided for by the applicable Zoning By-law, where a registered election candidate campaign staff are normally present and the public may enter to obtain information regarding the candidate.	§ Consistency with Zoning Regulations § Permit Campaign Office signage in Commercial and Industrial zones only
8	Not included in current By-law.	Prohibit Election Campaign Offices to be located within ground floors premises within Main Street Unionville Heritage District.	§ Alignment with applicable zoning regulations for Main Street Unionville Heritage District. § Offices are permitted uses within other Heritage Districts, exclusion is consistent with current Zoning regulations
9	Permit Deposit for placement of signs $200 and fee for removal/ recovery of signs is $10 per sign (Fee By-law Amendment)	Permit Deposit for placement of signs increased to $250 and fee for removal/ recovery of signs increased to $25 per sign.	§ Align with the City of Toronto § Maintain cost recovery for sign administration & enforcement

A copy of the proposed by-law to amend Markham’s Sign By-law is attached as Appendix “B”. Included with the amending by-law is a copy of the schedule staff proposes to attach to the revised By-law 2002-94 to specifically list the locations in the Town of Markham where election signs are permitted. Adoption of the proposed Schedule will reduce the number of intersections that Major Road Signs can be placed at from 954 to 530 (424 reduction) and will result in an estimated reduction of over 4,000 signs within the community.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS AND TEMPLATE:

Staff believe that the amended election sign regulations will continue the trend of reduced numbers of signs being removed for non-compliance that was experienced between the 2006 Municipal Election and the 2009 Ward 3 By-election. Increasing the permit deposit for the placement of signs from $200 to $250 will not have a budget impact as it is returned to the payee upon satisfaction by Town that there was no illegal placement of signs. Increasing the sign removal recovery cost from $10 per sign to $25 per sign will have minimal budget impact as there is an estimated reduction in the total number signs requiring removal.

HUMAN RESOURCES CONSIDERATIONS

Not Applicable

ALIGNMENT WITH STRATEGIC PRIORITIES:

Municipal Services - implementation of regulations addressing the concerns of candidates and residents, and the provision of user guides/training for easier understanding of regulations by candidates and their campaign workers.

BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:

Legal, Planning, and Operations staff have been consulted in the preparation of this Report.

ATTACHMENTS:

Appendix “A”- Copy of January 18, 2010 staff presentation to General Committee

Appendix “B”- Draft Sign By-law Amendment

Appendix “C”- Draft New Schedule ‘G’ to Sign By-law

Appendix “D”- Draft Fee By-law Amendment

Comments & Questions: