Winds of change: Can city’s big signs survive the gusts of global warming?
Safety checks needed, councillor says, after high winds topple two
THE DOWNTOWN BILLBOARD that toppled in high winds and injured two men last weekend was bigger than allowed under its building permit. But the city only found out later because it does not proactively inspect free-standing signs.
Now one councillor is asking if Hamilton’s forest of towering standalone signs should be safety-checked given the predicted increase in storms due to climate change — and the fact the city already inspects building signs over sidewalks.
The six-metre-high Royal Connaught billboard that fell at the corner of Catharine and Main streets was actually the second tall sign to snap in high winds this month.
Wind gusts of 100 km/h also felled a towering KFC bucket into a parking lot at King and Dundurn streets April 4, smashing a taxi window.
Tall free-standing signs with a foundation require a building permit to erect and an initial inspection, but
they aren’t typically eyeballed again unless someone complains, said Hamilton’s chief building official, Ed Vander Windt.
“It’s considered to be a structure, like a house. We don’t proactively inspect your house.”
But Vander Windt said his staff pulled the permit record for the Royal Connaught sign after it fell and compared the billboard size over time through online Google images. He said the width of the sign visibly grew over the years without a required permit change.
“We were not aware of that,” said Vander Windt, who said the larger-than-permitted sign may have “picked up more wind than it was designed to carry” when the wood supports snapping at the foundation.
The Spectator did not get a response from Royal Connaught to questions about the sign Thursday or Friday.
No new information was available about the two unidentified, injured men, but emergency officials previously reported a 58-year-old man was in stable condition while another man suffered minor injuries.
Despite the permit problem, in this case there is “no enforcement option” for the city under the provincial building code because the sign is no longer standing, said Vander Windt.
He said if the sign had been reported as teetering or unsafe before it fell, a building inspector could have issue a “make safe” order. But “because the sign is down, the danger is removed.”
There are hundreds of freestanding signs of varying heights in Hamilton ... everything from real estate ads, to fast food and mall signs, to towering thirdparty advertising billboards.
The building department could not provide the exact number of such signs with building permits Friday.
Vander Windt said it is “rare” for such structures to fall, but noted the provincial building code doesn’t provide a legal avenue for “maintenance inspections” — so the department effectively relies on sign owners or the public to report problems.
Vander Windt said he believes most large Ontario cities follow the same complaint-based inspection protocol for large freestanding signs. A Toronto building official confirmed that’s the city’s typical procedure.
But Hamilton’s bylaw department does inspect hundreds of signs that hang from buildings each year under a separate sign bylaw.
Licensing director Ken Leendertse said the inspections focus on about 430 grandfathered “encroachment” signs — usually old store signs that hang out over city-owned sidewalks.
You are not allowed to build a new sign that hangs over the head of passersby, but older signs can stay if properly maintained. “The inspections are primarily about public safety,” Leendertse said.
Downtown councillor Jason Farr said he has already asked staff to look into the possibility of similar inspections of free-standing tall signs.
“I put some feelers out after the unfortunate (falling sign) incident on the weekend,” Farr said, adding he is also wondering about wind-proofing inspections of construction hoardings.
“Climate change is real and I think we should be looking ahead in any number of ways to see what that means for us.”
Climate experts predict more severe storm events over time in Canada. One Ontario study has suggested the possibility of a gradual rise in extreme “wind gust” events.
Wind gusts can also be more intense around the base of tall buildings, depending on location and design — and Hamilton is expecting a flurry of condo development in the next few years.