It’s a question that’s come up in Sechelt in the past year, and now Gibsons council is struggling with how to deal with animated signs as part of an effort to update the Town’s sign bylaw.
The Town is asking for public input after giving a draft of the new bylaw first reading on April 19.
The questions around animated signs came up after a business wrote the Town with concerns after the planning department declared an existing sign in his store window was “animated” and had to be shut off.
The bylaw (both existing and proposed new versions) defines animated signs as signs that use “physical movement or change of lighting to depict action, whether by flashing, oscillating, pulsating or travelling illumination.”
The business owner in question is urging council to drop the ban on animated signs, because it has a negative impact on a retailer’s ability to promote things like in-store specials.
A similar sign outside Elphinstone Secondary is legal because School District No. 46 applied for a variance.
Planner Andre Boel told council that the issue didn’t come up when staff went to local businesses for input before putting together the first draft of the new bylaw.
Council debated some options for loosening the restriction on animated signs, but decided in the end to leave it as is and wait to see what other opinions they hear from the community.
Another issue that came up around the proposed bylaw was election signs.
In that case, councillors opted to have the regulations pulled from the sign bylaw. Instead, election sign rules will now be written into the Town’s election bylaw, which will be up for review before the next municipal vote.
