Photo: Contributed
The man who owns Kelowna’s largest sign rental shop is hoping he can convince city council to re-think its new portable sign bylaw proposal.
Otherwise, he feels his business will slowly but surely perish.
The first reading of the city’s new portable sign bylaws was held Monday, and the increases on rental rates made Okanagan Portable Signs owner Brad Buchanan nearly spit out his coffee.
“I was shocked,” Buchanan said. “It is ridiculous and completely unfair.”
Under the new fee structure, applicants would pay $75 for signs erected for 30 days or less, $175 for those up 31 to 60 days and $350 for signs placed from 61 to 90 days. It’s not a deal if you choose the longest stretch of time, which is the city’s attempt the limit the number of signs that dot the city’s landscape. Currently, it costs $30 for one month, $40 for two and $50 for three.
The sign issue has been ongoing for a while, initiated by former city manager Ron Mattiussi’s dislike for the look of the signs that dotted Harvey Avenue and elsewhere. At first the city was going to ban the signs completely, and then it was going to restrict the colours of the sign letters. Ultimately, it was decided earlier this year that everything would stay mostly the same, with changes to only the fees and some bylaw wording.
Then came this week’s news that broadsided Buchanan.
“I was led to believe through the whole process they were going to be reasonable increases along with everything else that’s going up,” Buchanan said.
Buchanan admitted he has a huge stake in what happens, given it puts food on his table, but he is also concerned about the small businesses that use portable signs.
“There’s a lot of small business that this is their only form of advertising,” he said. “They don’t advertise on Castanet, on banner ads, on TV, newspaper or radio.”
He also doesn’t believe the signs are ugly.
“They’re certainly not ugly to the small business guy who sells out of halibut,” he said, “but they could be visually displeasing to somebody else.”
Buchanan is also disturbed by council’s plan to hire a bylaw officer to enforce any new portable sign bylaws, claiming the city has received four complaints about the issue in the last four years. He doesn’t like the idea of a new bylaw officer both as a sign rental shop owner and as a Kelowna taxpayer.
“My next step is that I’m going to try to mobilize my business community, and we will be in opposition of the rate increases, but probably even more in opposition of spending a hundred grand around a bylaw officer to look at something that I consider to be a non-issue,” he said.
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