A Kitchener business isn’t happy with the sign by-law

A Kitchener business has received a notice that their sign is violating the city by-law.

But Mary Jane Daly, a sales representative at EDCOM Multimedia Products doesn’t understand because the sign has been there for 14 years, “”This building has been here probably 20 years or so and when the building was built, they put sign boxes on the front for people to put their signs in. At first we thought it was a joke, because the sign has been here for 14 years.”

The notice claims they don’t have a valid permit, but Daly says, she didn’t know they needed one. She also calls the tone of the letter very threatening. They received the letter September 25th and Daly says they need to comply by October 23rd.

But Shayne Turner, Director of Enforcement for the City of Kitchener stresses the intent of the notice was never meant to be threatening, “When you look at the letter, it talks about asking them to begin the process within a certain deadline, so in other words, it’s not asking them to complete the process, but let’s start the application process. We’re just looking for some indication of what their intentions are.”

Turner says they just want to make sure businesses have valid sign permits, “It’s part of an ongoing program we have, to try and locate some of these signs that in some cases are long-standing signs, that were installed without permits and we just want to get them legalized.”

Daly though, says she doesn’t even agree with the by-law, “I can understand having a by-law if somebody is going to put a horrible sign up or one that’s dangerous that’s going to fall down. But that sign has been up there for years, it’s never fallen down. I think it’s just a money grab, I think somebody came up with an idea to get some extra taxes.”

It’s not a tax grab according to Turner, “The fees are not that expensive. The benefit of getting them legalized so that we know what’s there and we know that future businesses won’t be impacted, is worth the dollar value.”