Portable sign fees set to go down

Permit fees for portable signs will likely go down thanks to a vote at council’s recent standing committee on finance meeting.

On Monday, the committee, which consists of all members of council, passed a motion to lower the fee for a 90-day permit to $150. The current fee is $225, and the city doesn’t offer any longer permits than quarterly ones.

Coun. Sheena Hughes made the motion on Monday because the committee was discussing the city’s fines, fees and other rates for 2015. She had initially suggested lowering the fee to $200, but decided to take it even lower.

“I realized that $200 was still way out of line,” Hughes said.

Council passed the fee change in a 5-2 vote, with Mayor Nolan Crouse and Coun. Cathy Heron voting against the majority. The change will have to be voted on during a regular council meeting to take effect.

Hughes made an additional attempt to introduce an annual permit fee for the signs that are often used by businesses to advertise along the nearest road.

St. Albert does not have an annual permit fee, whereas other nearby municipalities do.

Hughes’ annual permit fee motion was defeated in a 4-3 vote, with Hughes, Coun. Cam MacKay and Coun. Tim Osborne in the minority.

Crouse had said he wouldn’t support motions that in his mind amounted to a tax increase, since the lost revenue will have to be made up elsewhere. The mayor and Hughes disagreed on the amount.

Staff mentioned fees don’t cover the administrative cost of doing the work to issue them, but that the rules in the land use bylaw that prevent permits for permanent portable signs are from directions given by council.

“Frankly, administration doesn’t care one way or another,” said David Hales, general manager of planning and engineering.

Some councillors suggested waiting until 2015 when a report on digital signage is expected back.

Portable signs became a bit of an election issue during the municipal campaign last fall when several sign companies decided to offer support to local candidates by offering discounts to those who were pro business. The portable sign companies made it clear that they were concerned with both St. Albert’s fees, which are significantly higher than others in the region, and the lack of co-operation from the city in allowing for input from their industry on policy.

Those concerns were reiterated when a few portable sign company owners and members of the Alberta Portable Sign Association appeared at the standing committee on finance meeting, along with their association’s lawyer.

Harmen Pogge, past president of the association and owner of Effective Signs and Graphic, noted they’ve seen the fees in St. Albert skyrocket over the years.

“We do like the possibility of going with an annual permit, it has been adopted in all other jurisdictions,” Pogge said.

The St. Albert & District Chamber of Commerce also presented on the subject, with president and CEO Lynda Moffat asking council to revisit all sign bylaws for the city and not just deal with portable signs.

Moffat also said the chamber would like to see more digital pylon signs encouraged instead of traditional portable signs.

St. Albert business owner John Engel, who owns Mission: Fun & Games and formed the Trailblazers group, said he had “mixed feelings” on portable signs because he thinks St. Albert Trail would be more attractive without them, but also looks at it from the commercial side.

“I know it’s tough for the businesses,” Engel said.

Immediately after the committee finished voting, the mayor asked staff to look into charging realtors fees for their large signs – fees are not currently charged for real estate signs, and Crouse said he was looking to recover the money that will be lost over the fee change.