Quinte West Council has denied a resident’s request to put up a sign on Old Highway 2 with a vote of 8-4 opposed.
Ryan Carr, Resident, addressed Mayor Harrison and Council regarding the Planning Advisory Committee’s decision to deny his Sign Variance Application for 628 Old Highway 2.
In June of this year, Carr went to the building department and requested to put up a sign on the front of the property. The building department said a pre-consultation should be completed to see if it qualified, which it did not.
Carr said the biggest constraint was the proximity of the sign to residential lots. He requested more time last month to engage with the community and discuss the idea with his neighbours, to which he said both neighbours were in favour of the sign and decided to return to Council to re-request putting up the sign.
Councillor Card brought up the point that while he agrees the sign serves a purpose, dually elected councils have an enacted restrictive sign by-law in the City of Quinte West, and that by approving Carr’s request as an exception would not be fair to other land owners who have requested the same in the past or in the future.
Councillor Koutze brought forward a motion, seconded by Councillor Sharpe, that Council allow Mr. Carr to erect his sign as per his application to construct the sign on his property, it would be illuminated by a light, but the signs themselves are not illuminated. Councillor Koutze said that he finds this location is a good spot because there are quite a number of signs along the highway, a mix of residential and commercial properties, and that Council can do variances.
In favour of the motion were Councillor Koutze, Councillor Sharpe, Councillor Armstrong and Councillor Stedall.
Opposed to the motion were Mayor Harrison, Councillor O’Neil, Councillor Card, Councillor Alyea, Councillor McCue, Councillor Reid, Councillor Kotsovos and Councillor Freeman.
