Council passes billboard by-law

If you look around the city it has become apparent that North Bay is overcrowded with billboards. In an effort to keep it from becoming an even bigger problem, City Council passed a by-law Tuesday night temporarily banning billboards from being put up 500 feet or 150 metres from any public park or residential zone.

Councillor Mike Anthony said the City looked at the entire sign by-law issue in 2005 and 2006, but since then the landscape has changed drastically.

“We’ve got a national advertising company that’s come in and purchased, and now operates with billboards here in town,” Anthony explained. “We had others expand or add to the mix as well. Now you’ve got more people competing to get their billboards up to sell the space. That means more signs in more places, and that also means more members of the community are getting concerned.”

Anthony stated that some of the advertising companies had put in requests to put billboards near the waterfront. To get a handle on the situation, city staff will prepare a report to help Council better understand what they are dealing with.

“They’re going to talk to the sign industry, they’re going to get all the facts together, and they’re going to come back to us and give us some solid recommendations so we can make some serious decisions as an educated Council,” Anthony said.

The temporary by-law will be enforced until the study has been completed.