One more billboard sign along Highway 60 was one too many for Lake of Bays Council.
At their August meeting, councillors were asked to approve another sign on Hwy 60 at civic address 2213.
Melissa Markham of Melissa Markham Planning & Associates was before council representing the applicant.
At the time, she said the applicant had already erected the sign and signed a lease, having received MTO approval. She said the applicant had since been advised that the sign, which has since come down, would also require a permit from the Township.
She was before Lake of Bays Council looking for that approval. If approved, the sign would be located on a residential property, which council heard would be approximately two acres in size. However, the Township’s sign permitting bylaw indicates that signs are not allowed on properties with a residential use and/or less than 50 acres in size.
Markham argued that there were already about 45 signs between Harp Lake Road and Oxtongue Rapids Park Road and it appeared that none, or most, were not in compliance with the Township’s sign bylaw. “I was actually surprised that there were 45 billboard signs along that stretch of highway 60—15 kilometres of road within the municipality,” she said.
Municipal staff said the signs or sign holders were already in place in one way or another before the Township bylaw was passed in 2007.
Markham also noted that billboard signs in the township provide important marketing and advertising venues for local businesses, although staff noted that there is also no way to control what gets advertised on them. In the end, council voted against the exemption request.
Lake of Bays Mayor Terry Glover said he regularly receives complaints about signs and suggested the municipality send the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) a letter “with regards to the sign pollution in our area,” said Glover. “If they’re starting to think this is a good way to raise money for the province, or whatever they’re thinking, they need to know that … people don’t want to look at that stuff on their way.” Glover said there are other ways to advertise, “but more signs is ridiculous in my view.”
Councillor George Anderson agreed. “I’m certainly not in favour of the billboard sign invasion. The thing that concerns me also is that these new signs going in, they are for rent, and you never know what is going to be placed on them, so all of a sudden, we could have material that we really don’t want to see within our township, so I would support what you’re saying,” Anderson told Glover.
Municipal staff is expected to review the sign bylaw again this winter and recommend updates. They will also investigate as many as three new signs on Hwy. 35 for which they have no municipal permits, according to Stephen Watson, Lake of Bays Director of Building and Bylaw Services.
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Can I ask folks is this sign not on the owners property? if it is why is it such a problem we have no problem with all the franchise neon all over Huntsville but a small business is stopped from promoting their own small enterprise this is silly?
Great job LOB council in denying the approval of another billboard on the visually polluted Highway 60. The council should move in the direction of banning billboards within the township in the next 5 years. The use of smart phones has made the use of billboards unnecessary and obsolete. The old sign bylaw was created prior to the internet and is now outdated.
A drive through Algonquin Park, where billboards are not allowed, will reveal the beautiful scenery and vistas of the area. Banning billboards will have a positive effect on tourism and the local economy.
Good start, Lake of Bays. Watch out, too, for too-bright video signs. And they are huge! Not only sight pollution but light pollution.
“In 1968, Vermont prohibited new billboards and provided an amortization period of five years to remove existing billboards. By 1974, Vermont felled its last billboard. Vermont, joins Alaska, Hawaii & Maine as one of four states to ban billboards.”
“Why is Maine Not Allowed To Have Billboards?”
“Prior to the early 80s, Maine highways were littered with billboards promoting products like cigarettes and confectionary food. Following in Vermont’s footsteps, the state saw that tourists were drawn to Maine because of its natural legacy so they decided to put a billboard ban of their own in place.
Littering the landscape with billboards is fine in Muskoka.
Of course “Ford wants to erect billboards along Ontario highways to generate revenue”
And “Throwaway cost’: Doug Ford ordered Highway 413 signs, then replaced them weeks later”
Only because the font wasn’t big enough. Believe it or not.
“Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the government was “wasting taxpayer dollars on Tory propaganda” by installing the signs.”
Tory propaganda littering the landscape.
“Travel along any highway in Maine, and unlike most other states, you won’t see any billboards. They’ve been banned in the state since the 1970s.”
Unlike Muskoka.
At least preventing new ones is a start.
Time to start thinking about taking down the existing ones.
Right on Rudi! How smart do you have to be to recognize the obvious? With the billboard in your pocket, do you really need to nail one to a tree? Or parts of a tree.
How about the small plastic business signs ? Advertising for painting, driveway re surfacing etc. Especially if a 416 phone number. Get in the yellow pages.
Surely many are hearing that familiar tune in their head: “Signs, signs, everywhere a sign/ blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind….” Now that we have the internet at our fingertips there is no longer a need for ANY signs blocking out the scenery. Do us a favour and remove them all
Well done LOB Council. We can hardly see the trees for all the advertising pollution.
Hi Randy,
It’s the board seen in the photo, submitted as part of the request on behalf of the applicant. It has since been taken down.
Please, no more signs along highways.
I want to see the beautiful Lake of Bays and Muskoka scenery!
Is this the sign in question is it not on their property if it is the one you show in this article picture? If this is a random picture maybe not use it