2000-08-01 P & Z Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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~ . I Introduction Reasonable uniformity in business standards is not only desirable on a continenlal basis, it is essential. Great progress has been made in attaining uniform standards in many areas, such as in the field of electrical equipment where an ever greater number of communities are accepting the standard of underwriters' laboratories (48) in the United States, or of Canadian Standards Association (C.S.A.) in Canada. The field of safety controls for ve- hicles, standardization of government high- way signs and signals, accepted food stan- dards, and a miscellany of other areas are further examples of where identical or similar regulations greatly outnumber the variables. Were this not 501 business could hardly func- tion on a national or international basis. The imperative need for such workable uniformity is rapidly being recognized on an international basis, evidenced by such things as Britain converting to a decimal system for money and North America preparing conversion to the metric system. Unfortunately, the present situation in the visual-communication field is much less satis- factory, There are several reasons for this, the i1iuminated sign as we know it today has really had a very short history. Neon signage only appeared in noticeable numbers during the 1930's, and the enormous proliferation of plastic signs in the last 25 years. During most of this period, the majority of communities either had no real sign legislation, or in many cases, controls were outdated. Many sincere attempts are being made all over our continent to improve our cities aes- thetically. Unfortunately, there is little uni- formity in these attempts. Hundreds or thou- sands of cities, towns and communities are attempting to write legislation to control sign age. Many of them with the best possible intentions are creating impossible situations. For instance, instead of developing very strict and carefully planned quality controls, spacing regulations and bon using formula, all of which are workable and will abolish much of that which is unsightly, fhey have made the very great mistake of attempting to control aes- thetics or to vest in appointees power to in- voke their own taste, which is not only very dangerous, but in many cases, illegal. The result of all this is that a national adver- tiser, for that matter a national sign supplier, is facing an almost impossibly chaotic situa- tion, with almost as many variations in that which is permitted as there are communities in which he does business. Unfortunately, fhe sign indusfry has aiso over- reacted to a difficult, but solvable situation with scores of sign associations in cities and provinces and states pUblishing their own suggestions for workable by-laws wit" pro- portionately as many variations and contra- dictions as have been created by the com- munities. We do not believe the average community can be expected to write a sign code without as- sistance from experienced people in the sign industry. Neither do We believe that a regional sign association with almost as many different viewpoints as there are members and whose members vary greatly in experience can com- pile such a thing in committee. We have so stated in a published corporate policy state- ment and in numerous articles that have re- sulted in suggestions from people at all levels of government and from cities and communi- ties of greatly varying size that we propose a uniform sign code. We recognize, therefore., that this proposed code must include material that would have no application for certain communities. We also recognize that some cities may have un- usual zones or situations or that these may occur in the future which will require con- sideration that we have not contemplated. Every attempt has been made to design this proposed code to be as universally helpful as possible and in such a manner that material may be selected from it to suit each individual circumstance. In considering the construction of any code to regulate signs, one has to choose between three alternate methods to determine the size and placement, etc.. of signs within a munici- pality. Generally speaking, these are: t. a