COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE

Report to/Rapport au:

Planning and Development Committee/

Comité de l'urbanisme et de l'aménagement

and Council/et au Conseil

21 February 2001/ le 21 fevrier 2001

Submitted by/Soumis par: Ned Lathrop, General Manager/Directeur général

Development Services Department/Services d'aménagementI

Ref N°: ACS2001-DEV-APR-0009

That the Planning and Development Committee recommend that Council approve a variance to the Signs By-law 36-2000, of the old City of Ottawa, to permit an internally illuminated ground sign at 1485 Laperriere Avenue located 19 metres from a residential zone instead of the minimum 30 metres, provided that the sign does not exceed an area of 5 square metres, does not exceed a height of 4 metres, utilizes reverse illumination only and is not illuminated between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.

RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT

Que le Comité de l’urbanisme et de l’aménagement recommande au Conseil d’approuver une dérogation au Règlement sur les enseignes 36-2000 de l’ancienne Ville d’Ottawa afin d’installer une enseigne illuminée au sol située au 1485, avenue Laperriere à 19 mètres d’un quartier résidentiel au lieu du minimum de 30 mètres habituellement requis, pourvu que l’enseigne ne mesure pas plus de cinq mètres carrés, ne dépasse pas une hauteur de quatre mètres et utilise un éclairage inverse, lequel ne sera pas en fonction entre 22 h et 7 h.

The property is located at the northeast corner of Laperriere and Lady Ellen and is zoned industrial/commercial in the Zoning By-law (see Document 1). Adjacent area land uses are primarily commercial on the north side of Laperriere Street and low density residential on the south side. Under the Signs By-law, this site is designated as a District 4 category which allows illuminated ground signage provided that it complies with various setbacks to property lines and adjacent residential zones.

The purpose for the sign would be to identify the property owner and various tenants located in the building. Based on a review of the scale, the sign would comply with by-law area and height restrictions. The proposed sign (see Document 3) would have an area of 6.5 square metres with a height of 5.5 metres. Although an illuminated ground sign is permitted, illuminated signs must be located 30 metres from an adjacent residential zone. The intent of this general provision is to reduce the impact of light-spillover on nearby residential uses.

DISCUSSION

The Department has reviewed the application and feels that the variance for the illuminated ground sign within 30 metres of an adjacent residential zone would be acceptable provided that certain conditions are imposed to lessen the impact of the illuminated component on the community, and in particular the residential homes directly across from the subject site. Given that this street has a mix of commercial/industrial and residential land uses, limited illumination would allow the business some degree of visibility without adversely affecting the adjacent residents.

The applicant believes that the sign is necessary to allow visibility normally afforded permitted commercial uses thus allowing the business to compete and survive. In addition, the applicant believes that the impact of the illuminated sign is minimized since the sign would be situated perpendicular to the street (not directly facing the residents across the street), has most of the illumination through lettering only and there will be no other signage on this site.

The Department is of the opinion that the intensity of the sign’s lighting would be substantially reduced if all the sign has illumination through lettering only. Reversed illumination is defined in the by-law as illumination only through the lettering or graphics of an opaque sign face. In addition, it is believed that the installation of a timer to restrict illumination during typical sleeping hours would further lessen the impact to nearby residents. Finally, if illumination is necessary, a smaller sign is suggested to address the expressed concerns of the neighbourhood as it was felt that the proposed sign would be larger than other signage in this area. These conditions are deemed necessary to address the concerns expressed by the community and to be in keeping with the intent of the Signs By-law.

In light of the above, the Department is recommending a conditional approval of the application for variance.

In response to the standard early notification to area residents, community and business groups, and the Ward Councillor, eighteen responses were received, fifteen were opposed to the application, one supported the application and two had no objections. The Carlington Community Association and the Central Park Citizens Group did not support the original application.

Based on a February executive meeting, the Carlington Community Association recommended support of the conditions stated in the report recommendation allowing a variance conditional upon a smaller sign and with reversed illumination, but with an illumination restriction from
9:00 p.m. instead of 10:00 p.m. as suggested by the Department. Councillor Wendy Stewart stated that she would like to support the recommendations of the Carlington Community Association in an attempt to lessen the impact of this sign on the adjacent residential community.

Circulation comments were as follows:

· The sign is too large and too bright for a residential area.

· The sign would be significantly larger and brighter sign than anything else in the neighbourhood.

· The size of the sign seems unusually large for this area (residential) especially since it is very close to residential homes just across the street

· I am very concerned that such as sign would cause an obstruction with the traffic coming out of Lady Ellen Place...to put a large sign on the corner would again impede the vision for drivers

· We are vehemently opposed to the erection of a sign of such proportions. The proposed sign is over 18 feet and 10 feet wide, with “high output illumination”. We are opposed to the thought of looking out our living room windows and being greeted by such a mammoth sign. We feel that a sign of this size would be overwhelming and out of place in our community.

· We are opposed to the “high illumination lighting. Laperriere Avenue is an extremely quiet street with no appreciable traffic after 5:30pm. The use of illumination after 5:30pm can serve little or no commercial benefit. We do concede that a level of illumination would be beneficial, especially during the winter months, however we feel that signage illumination after 6pm is unnecessary, undesirable and wasteful.

Response to Comments

Given the mixed use nature of this street, the Department is of the opinion that an illuminated sign at this location would be appropriate provided that the lighting is restricted through conditions which will lessen it’s impact to adjacent residential uses. Although the scale of the proposed sign complies with the area and height restrictions of the Signs By-law, it is recommended that a smaller sign be installed to lessen the impact and to address the concerns of nearby residents who believe that the scale of the proposed illuminated sign is too large for this area. Regarding location, the sign will not be located within the corner lot site triangle and it would comply with the by-law’s visibility regulation.

Corporate Services Department, Secretariat Services Branch to notify the agent, Rainbow Neon, Attention: Andre Charron, 1451 Star Top Road, Ottawa, Ontario. K1B 3S5 and the owner The Willow Group, Attention: Benoit Comeaw, 1485 Laperriere Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, K1Z 7S8 of City Council’s decision.

Location Map Document 1

Site Plan Document 2

Elevation Drawings Document 3

BACKGROUND

Location Map Document 1