— Residents & business owners will be able to comment on draft bylaw —

(OSOYOOS TIMES — August 23, 2006) —

By Julie TurnerrnOsoyoos Times

Town Council is proposing to regulate signs in Osoyoos.
Local business owners and residents will have the chance to voice their opinion on the proposed bylaw, which would regulate all types of signs in town, before it is adopted by Council.
A public hearing is set for 7 p.m. September 5 in Council Chambers, and copies of the draft bylaw are available at Town Hall.
The bylaw would effectively govern all types of signs, including animated, awning, canopy, fascia, free-standing, ground, illuminated, mansard, joint identification, off-site, projecting, reader board, roof, sandwich board and temporary signs.
Its stated goals are to:
¢ Protect and enhance the Town's aesthetic attractiveness as a place to live and visit.
¢ Promote effective advertising for commercial businesses that informs rather than confuses customers, and avoids excessive visual competition between signs.
¢ Limit distractions from commercial signs for the safety of drivers and pedestrians.
¢ Minimize nuisance from signs in residential neighbourhoods.
¢ Regulate safe sign placement, construction and maintenance.
Existing signs at the date of the bylaw's adoption which do not conform to the new regulations, and are not prohibited signs (as defined in Part 4 of the bylaw), will be considered legal, non-conforming signs and will be allowed to remain.
Mayor John Slater said at the first reading of the bylaw August 14, Council and staff had been wrestling with a sign bylaw for some 15 years, and noted sign bylaws are very controversial.
Councillor Stu Wells advised the business community to pick up a copy of the new sign bylaw. It's going to affect a lot of businesses in town. I understand sign bylaws are one of the most disputed bylaws in the province. Please come out to this important public hearing, have some input; this is going to change quite a bit of the way we have signage in Osoyoos.rnCouncillor Allan Carswell said the Town has asked the Regional District and the Ministry of Transportation to clean up their signs, and now we're cleaning our house.
Stakeholders will have the opportunity to give input verbally and in writing. Work began on drafting the new sign bylaw in December 2005, and the local Chamber of Commerce sent questionnaires to all its members asking them to have their say in the draft bylaw.