The owner of the Pita Jack wants a District of 100 Mile House ordinance changed after its bylaw officer insisted last fall he permanently remove a “sandwich board” sign placed in front of the restaurant.
Gerhard Loeffeler said that when he approached the District staff about it, it was recommended he notify council with his request.
In his Nov. 30 letter to council, Loeffeler stated a bylaw officer told him to remove it from the Highway 97 right-of-way. Then he allowed it during the lunch rush for a period of time, but later ordered it removed altogether.
In the letter, Loeffeler pointed out several examples of A-frame signs in use, including one currently placed directly on Birch Avenue, and noted a bunch of signs for a hotdog vendor were placed along the highway last summer.
Loeffeler had an opportunity to address District council on Jan. 20, where he requested the District-wide bylaw prohibiting sandwich board signs be changed to allow him and other businesses to use them.
“This little A-frame sign is very, very important to us to catch some traffic from the highway.”
He also asked why Pita Jack is being singled out.
“These signs are present all over town … none of these signs get targeted but ours.”
Mayor Mitch Campsall replied, “We got a complaint against your sign.”
This statement was incorrect, according to District administrator Roy Scott who explained, “We had further requests to do the same thing.”
The mayor later concurred it was “not a complaint but a question … that’s why it was done.”
Campsall explained the District doesn’t govern the highway corridor. That is controlled by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MoTI), which does not allow private business signage within its right-of-way, he said.
Loeffeler noted it was a bylaw officer who enforced the sign’s removal and the bylaw’s A-frame sign prohibition is not specific to on, or off of, rights-of-way.
“If we change our bylaws, the ministry has to OK it and I guarantee [MoTI] won’t allow sandwich boards on the frontage, Campsall said.
“It is within 800 metres of the highway … and they would not approve that bylaw.”
Loeffeler asked if this right-of-way includes Birch Avenue, and Campsall replied, “Yes, and that is why our bylaw reads the way it is.”
However, according to information provided by MoTI, the mayor was incorrect on both counts.
The MoTI maps available at the local office show its right-of-way in front of Pita Jack is 96.72 feet wide.
In an interview after the council meeting, MoTI Cariboo District manager Todd Hubner of Williams Lake said the District’s bylaw doesn’t apply to the ministry’s right-of-way. However, he added, these signs still can’t be placed there.
“Third-party signs are not allowed on a highway’s right-of way.”
He also clarified that while a larger span of MoTI authority does surround its highways for municipal applications, it is not about signage.
“Our concern is within 800 metres of the highway corridor, which has more to do with development,” he said, adding this mainly includes traffic congestion, routing and impacts.
Hubner added Campsall’s comment about MoTI barriers to any bylaw changes allowing sandwich board signs in the District was unfounded.
“I think it’s a bit of a broad statement to say we would just turn that down.”
The MoTI “wouldn’t have any concern” with third-party signs along the municipal side roads, he explained.
“It would be nothing to do with us.”
Hubner noted the only exception he could think of was if something like a large “billboard” sign placed outside of the right-of-way would impede a driver’s vision, such as to a connecting roadway.
