Committee to draft rules for roadside advertising

After three years of public consultation and debate, a new set of rules governing roadside advertising signs in Peterborough County could be finalized by mid-2019.

At a county council meeting on Friday, councillors approved the first appointments to a new committee meant to develop recommendations to council for an updated sign bylaw.

Although the committee will be given a year to do its work, councillors didn’t seem willing to wait that long to have a final report in hand.

“It would be awfully desirable to have a recommendation in six months,” said Karl Moher, the deputy mayor of Douro-Dummer Township.

Bernadette Vanderhorst, the deputy mayor of Asphodel-Norwood Township, asked county staff whether council could order the committee to be done its work in six months.

But CAO Troy Speck noted that the committee will be in existence for “up to a year,” and that it’s clear that council wants to hear recommendations in six months (some new appointees were staff members who were at the council meeting).

For at least three years, council has been grappling with how to govern the use of roadside advertising signs for businesses in Peterborough County.

The signs in question are the large ones installed along county roads on public property.

Some area business owners have told county council those signs are crucial for advertising, said Peter Nielsen, the county’s engineering and design manager, at the meeting Friday.

But many people feel strongly that the signs are an eyesore, Nielsen said — that was the predominant sentiment from residents when a survey was circulated in 2017.

“There was concern about clutter — that these signs aren’t aesthetically pleasing,” Nielsen reminded council Friday.

On that basis, county staff recommended early this year that a ban be imposed on the roadside signs.

But at a council meeting in January several businesspeople came to ask council to reconsider, saying the signs are a primary means of reaching prospective customers.

Council voted then to set aside any thought of a ban — at least for now — and strike a committee to make recommendations to council instead.

The committee will be made up of citizens, municipal staff and business owners who use the roadside signs.

On Friday council approved the first appointments, filled by staff and representative of local agencies. The appointees are:

• Sherry Boyce-Found, general manager of the Kawartha Chamber of Commerce.

• Tracie Bertrand, director of tourism and communications for Peterborough and the Kawarthas Economic Development.

• Brian Raymond, chief building official for the Municipality of Trent Lakes.

• Alana Solman, CAO for North Kawartha Township.

• Brian Gratton, economic development officer and deputy clerk for Havelock-Belmont-Methuen Township.

• Sheridan Graham, director of corporate projects and services for Peterborough County.

• Martin O’Grady, co-ordinator of engineering and design for Peterborough County.

• Peter Nielsen, manager of engineering and design for Peterborough County.

The committee will also include three business owners who use at least one bush country sign, and three members of the general public.