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Erik Graf and Renate Heidersdorf with the sign that has cost them several hundred dollars in municipal fines.
Merchants, Beaconsfield council strike deal over disputed signs
New bylaw expected to be put forward next month
Alycia Ambroziak
The Gazette
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Erik Graf and Renate Heidersdorf with the sign that has cost them several hundred dollars in municipal fines.
Compared with past acrimonious encounters, a meeting between the merchants of Beaurepaire Village and Beaconsfield Mayor Bob Benedetti over a long-festering signage dispute could almost be described as a love-in.
“It was very amicable, very positive,” Renate Heidersdorf, who along with her husband, EriK Graf, own the La Palette art gallery in Beaurepaire Village, said of meeting earlier this spring between the mayor and about 20 merchants over a signage bylaw that has had some merchants seething for years, mostly over a ban on sandwich boards.
“He (Benedetti) listened to us and said we will start from scratch, as far as the bylaw is concerned.”
The couple have twice been ticketed for putting up a “come in, we’re open” sandwich board on their property. Other merchants have also been ticketed for violating a bylaw which forbids sandwich boards.
On May 14, the couple contested tickets for putting up the sandwich board sign on their property. The tickets carry a $100 fine plus $41 in administrative costs. The court is expected to decide the case later this month.
“A new bylaw would allow sandwich boards,” said Heidersdorf. “And that will be good for all merchants.
“These are tough times and we should, now more than ever, be allowed to do something that can create some action.”
David L. Mitchell, owner of ETI Micro, who was also ticketed for having a sandwich board sign outside his computer and video rental store, said he too was optimistic about the final outcome of the conflict.
“More than half of the merchants were there,” Mitchell said. “And by the end, everyone was in agreement. Now, let’s see the results.”
For his part, Benedetti called the meeting “an honest discussion.”
“Everybody had a chance to say why they would or would not like to see sandwich boards,” he said. “And in the end, there was clear consensus that these merchants felt it would be advantageous for them.”
“I’m optimistic it (the amended bylaw) will go through,” he said.
The amended bylaw would limit the sizes of billboards and deal with other signage matters like banners.
Benedetti said council could adopt the new bylaw in June.