Sign of the times: Winnipeg mobile sign businesses question proposed city restrictions

Significant changes to the mobile signs that dot the sides of businesses and parking lots around Winnipeg could be on the way.

The City of Winnipeg is considering new restrictions on height, size and even colour.

Gurav Bhatt of React Mobile Signs told 680 CJOB he questions whether the city is looking at the right metrics when it comes to new regulations.

“Essentially, the City of Winnipeg is taking a comprehensive look at the mobile sign industry, which started about a year and a half ago,” Bhatt said. “The whole premise here was the ability to restrict the use of colour on a lot of these mobile signs that thousands of small businesses across the city use.

“If we want to control the eyesores in the city — the ‘blights’, as they call it, on the streetscape — we’re all in favour. We love Winnipeg. We want our city to look beautiful.”

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Bhatt said small businesses often rely on these signs as an affordable option to get their message out. He, along with other sign company owners, met with council Monday to discuss their concerns, and said the conversation with the city will continue at another committee meeting Feb. 3.

According to the city’s report, the term “mobile sign” describes “a sign which is mounted on a trailer, vehicle, stand, or similar support structure which is designed in such a manner that the sign can be readily relocated to another location, and which may include copy that can be changed through the use of removable characters or panels.”

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The report’s recommendations include restricting signs in certain areas, limiting the number of signs per lot, capping their height at 13 feet, and most notably, dictating that lettering be kept to black or white and one other colour on a black or white sign background.

Under current rules lettering must be either white on a black background or black on a white background.

The colour restrictions do not apply to inflatables, flags, or banner signs, although the report suggests size restrictions for those as well.

“It’s a tough reality for us as business owners in this industry,” Bhatt continued, “and more importantly, I think it’s a tough reality for these thousands of small businesses that rely on these signs.”

The sign owner said he wants to work collectively with the city, but with a focus on cracking down on derelict, broken or damaged signs, rather than colour, height and size.