Winnipeg rooftops 'cluttered' with obsolete, haphazard billboards, consultant says

Winnipeg is cluttered with too many billboards, including hundreds in poor condition,placed too close to each other or perched on locations such as rooftops, where no new signs would be allowed to rise today.

That's the conclusion of a Vancouver outdoor-advertising consultant who analyzedWinnipeg signageduring the waning days of the Sam Katz administration and tried in vain to convince the city to modernize its regulations.

"I thought it was very cluttered and indicated a lot of haphazard placement," said Valerie McIlroyof consulting firm Waterford Partners, who examined Winnipeg signageduring visits in2013 and 2014.

McIlroy concluded Winnipeg had too many billboards overall for a city of its size. She also said many wereplaced erratically over the course of decades, often without the separation now required by cities when they determine the density of outdoor advertising structures.

She also found many of Winnipeg's billboards needed maintenance, used obsolete technology and were erected in locations such as rooftops, where no new signs are allowed under the city's currentsignageregulations.

Winnipeg has grandfathered about 300 of these signs and has not made any effort to phase them out, she said.

"There has not been aggressive development in Winnipeg," she said in a telephoneinterview earlier this summer.

"I knowyou've been certainly working on your downtown coreand it certainly shows in a lot of the investments that have been made in the last 10 yearsbut in the surrounding areas, in the arterial streets, you see a lot of this poorly placed, poorly managed signageand too much of it."

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Braden Smith, Winnipeg's chief planner, said the cityhas determined, through its own research, that Winnipeg's signage regulations are among the most permissive in Canada.

Those regulations were tightened up in 2012 and now outlaw the placement of any new rooftop billboards, among other forms of signs that have now been grandfathered.

"Virtually every billboard that's on top of a building is likely one that does not conform," Smith said in a telephone interview.

Several Canadian municipalities, including the Vancouver suburbs of Surrey and New Westminster, have taken efforts to rid themselves of obsolete billboards and create a new signage regime where the city owns, designs and controls the revenue from all billboards, McIlroy said.

She said she advised Winnipeg to phase out old billboards over the course of two or three years and then phase in new regulations.

"We gave them a full report on what was necessary ... it was a lot for the City of Winnipeg to do, and at the time, there was an election on the horizon," she said. "They just didn't have the diligence or the gumption to take it on."

McIlroy said phasing out old signage is a complex task that requires another review of Winnipeg sign regulations and consultationswith the outdoor-advertising companies whose livelihoods depend on revenue from billboards.

"It's a very difficult project to embark on and in many cases, there are so many other priorities that cities have," she noted.

Compounding this difficulty is Winnipeg's unique billboard tax, which McIlroysaid serves as a disincentive for private-sector billboard owners.

"It's actually a penalty tax," she said."Ifthey changeto higher-grade, bigger signage and update the technology and makethat capital investment, they now have even a higher tax."

McIlroysaid Winnipeg could generate far more revenue and improve the esthetics of its skyline at the same time by eliminating obsolete billboards and building modern digital billboards on its own property. One digital sign can replace four to eight conventional billboards, she said.

"They would generate more revenue, millions more revenue to the city. That's the opportunity," she said.

Jeff Pinchin, leasing manager for billboard operator Pattison Outdoor in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario, declined to comment on the notion Winnipeg's billboards are too numerous and out of date.

"That's not for me to say," he said, adding he respects the opinions of planners and would gladly work with the city should it decide to conduct another signage review.

The Winnipeg leasing manager for the other major player in billboard advertising, Outfront Media, was unavailable for comment.

Council property chair John Orlikow(River Heights-Fort Garry) said Winnipeg does not need to revisit its signage regulations because the cityis still implementing recommendations that came out of the last review, in 2012.

"I think we're just going to keep working on the sign bylaw we have now," said Orlikow, adding he grew up with rooftop signs and appreciates their nostalgic value.

"I know we've had a couple of those on therooftops and they are kind ofhuge and almost gaudy. It kind of reminds me of what Winnipeg was, back in the day," he said. "They're kind of neat, the big structures up there."

McIlroywas less appreciative of the overhead structures.

"No one likes roof signs. Roof signs are ugly. Everyone's trying to get rid of them," she said."The City of Toronto would give anything to get rid of them and I think that has to happen."