New digital advertising signs are one step closer to gaining acceptance in St. Albert as city council voted in favour of allowing the local chamber of commerce to erect two digital signs along St. Albert Trail.
The chamber currently operates an electronic sign facing northbound traffic at the corner of St. Albert Trail and Hebert Road and has a wooden sign at the north end of the Trail facing southbound motorists.
Council approved the chamber's request to install a new digital sign in each of these locations subject to providing written notification to all property owners within 100 metres of each proposed location and reporting the outcome of this consultation to city administration.
"We're happy. We've been trying to move this project forward for a year," said past chamber chair Joe Becigneul, who addressed council on behalf of the organization.
City council had directed administration to find a way to allow the chamber signs even though administration wasn't in favour of such a move.
A number of city departments expressed concerns about the signs, which the chamber will rent out for advertising.
Business and tourism development questioned whether allowing the signs for only one entity was appropriate or if it created an unfair business advantage. The planning branch felt approval of the signs may set a precedent and lead to additional requests for such signs. The transit branch felt it was likely that its outdoor advertising partner, Pattison Outdoor, will submit a request to erect digital signs at the St. Albert Centre exchange and the Village Transit Station.
Distracted drivers
The engineering department was opposed to the signs due to concerns about driver distraction. Most research to date acknowledges a level of driver distraction associated with this form of signage, stated the city's background report. It also noted that the city prohibits small garage sale signs within 30.5 metres of any intersection yet this initiative would place a large sign right at a busy intersection.
"Given that the intersection of St. Albert Trail and Hebert Road has the highest incidence of motor vehicle collisions in the city, the addition of a digital messaging centre right at the intersection would appear to be counterproductive with ongoing initiatives to improve traffic safety at this location," the report said.
The legal department advised against opening up the land use bylaw to create an amendment that related only to the chamber of commerce, feeling this could be viewed as discriminatory and expose the bylaw to a legal challenge.
Administration worked around this concern by invoking a clause located in the sign regulations portion of the bylaw, which states the regulations don't apply to municipal signs or those that are part of a contractual arrangement with another party.
Therefore, rather than change the bylaw, the city chose to enter into a contractual arrangement with the chamber to erect the signs under certain conditions.
These include a maximum height of six metres for the Hebert Road location and a maximum height equal to that of the nearby sound attenuation fence at the northerly location.
The signs will be restricted to static images — no moving video — that change no faster than every six seconds. The illumination levels must not adversely affect traffic and/or any adjacent residential areas and each sign is to include a dimming feature that automatically adapts to the ambient light level.
The digital display portion of the signs will be 4.3 metres by 2.7 metres (14 feet by nine feet.)
Mayor Nolan Crouse said he's been very cautious about this issue as it's made its way through various council motions in the last several months.
"Maybe I'm too old fashioned but I just think that what we're doing is moving down a road which I don't know what the future is," he said.
He asked administration to keep tabs on best practices that emerge as digital sign usage proceeds in other communities. Crouse then supported the sign motion.
"It sends a strong message to our businesses that we care about them," he said.
Coun. Roger Lemieux pushed to move the issue forward.
"This has been going on for quite some time," he said. "I believe it's a great direction for the city to go."
Becigneul said the chamber already has 20 groups who are interested in advertising and the chamber is eager to replace its outdated sign at Hebert Road, which he thinks nobody reads.
"It puts me in mind of the old Pong game, the original video game," he said.
