CALGARY – A southeast business owner is frustrated that after spending more than $10,000 to have a mural painted on his store windows the city is telling him it has to come off.
Doug Swinton, who twice applied for a permit for the painting after it was up — at a cost of about $1,200 — said both were rejected by city planners and he’s been told he could face fines–ranging from $1,500 to $3,000–if it’s not removed.
"I assumed common sense would prevail," the owner of Swinton’s Art Supply and Instruction said. "I forgot, it’s the city.
"It’s just a mural."
Last fall, Swinton commissioned a replica of a Michelangelo Sistine Chapel scene, using the same material applied to bus windows so that people can see out of the store. He says the company that did the work didn’t tell him it would require a permit from the city.
Acting on a complaint, planning development and building approvals staff visited the site and told Swinton he would have to either remove the art or apply for a development permit.
John Purdy, the city’s chief development control planner, said the permit was rejected because the sign takes up 100 per cent of the window. The land use bylaw allows for 30 per cent of the window to be covered.
The intent is to better allow pedestrians to interact with storefronts, he added.
Even if the text is removed, as Swinton has offered, it is considered promotional material, Purdy said.
Swinton can’t reapply for a permit until the end of next month; he is required to wait six months from his last rejection.
He also withdrew an appeal of that initial decision.
The city’s land-use bylaw sustainment team happens to be currently reviewing the sign section, which Purdy said includes "a lot of technicalities."
That includes looking at the overall intent of the bylaw, considering changes to the kind of window coverings that have become available over the past few years and whether there should be a difference between windows along a pedestrian street or on a parking lot.
Purdy said he will be contacting Swinton.
"If there’s an opportunity to provide some latitude with respect to the removal before he has the opportunity to apply again, I will exercise that opportunity however I can," he said.
Swinton said he’s happy to work with the city to resolve the problem and save the artwork, but "they’ve never contacted me and told me that."
kguttormson@theherald.canwest.com
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