POLICY REPORT
DEVELOPMENT AND BUILDING

Date: February 8, 2001
Author/Local: PJohnston//7461

RTS No. 01899

CC File No. 113

Council: March 6, 2001

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	Director of Current Planning
SUBJECT:	Sign By-law Amendment - International Village (88 West Pender Street)

RECOMMENDATION

THAT the application by Henderson Development Ltd. to amend the Sign By-law for International Village "A" (88 West Pender Street) to delete the requirement that certain signs be three-dimensional be referred to a Public Hearing, together with:

(i) draft Sign By-law amendments generally as contained in Appendix A; and

(ii) the recommendation of the Director of Current Planning to approve.

FURTHER THAT the Director of Legal Services be instructed to prepare the necessary by-law for consideration at Public Hearing.

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.

COUNCIL POLICY

The Sign By-law regulates the number, type, size and location of signs. International Village "A", (88 West Pender Street) has its own custom-tailored site-specific sign regulations in the Sign By-law which were created to accommodate the signage concept proposed for the International Village marketplace development.

PURPOSE

This report assesses an application to amend the sign regulations for the International Village development at 88 West Pender Street to permit existing unauthorized and proposed two-dimensional signs that do not comply with the Sign By-law.

DISCUSSION

Background: The commercial/residential development at 88 West Pender Street lies between Pender, Taylor, Keefer and Abbott Streets and is the centrepiece of the development area known as International Village. Signage proposed for the development during construction included creative three-dimensional signs for first and second storey tenants and for the galleria and parking entrances, as well as the large animated neon "Tinseltown" sign at the corner of Pender and Abbott Streets. In 1988, Council created a site-specific set of sign regulations to accommodate most of the signage the developer proposed for the site, including three-dimensional tenant and building identification signs.

Many of the proposed signs exceeded the Sign By-law's restrictions, and staff support for the signs and subsequent by-law amendment was to some extent based on the creative sign package proposed for the development. Most of the site-specific regulations for 88 West Pender Street for projecting signs (signs which project from a wall of a building by more than 400 mm/16 in.) require that the signs be three-dimensional.

In 2000, Council approved an amendment to allow a large video automatic changeable copy sign below the "Tinseltown" sign.

Problem: The requirement that some signs be three-dimensional has prevented tenants from obtaining permits for standard two-dimensional projecting signs allowed and utilized at other locations in the city.

The word "three-dimensional" is not defined in the Sign By-law and its application has been subject to interpretation. Planning staff believe that it was intended to require that a sign's "copy" (the words and graphics which make up the message of the sign) have three dimensions - height, width and depth. However, some applicants feel the sign structure provides the third (i.e., depth) dimension. Planning staff disagree with this interpretation, since virtually all signs have three dimensions when the sign box or sign structure is taken into account. We do agree, given the lack of definition, that the three-dimensional requirement is difficult to apply consistently, given the vast array of sign configurations.

Several of the tenants in International Village, such as Starbucks, are multi-location or franchised businesses with standard two-dimensional signs. The standard projecting Starbucks' sign cannot be issued a permit at International Village due to the three-dimensional requirement. Two of these signs have been installed without permit.

Options: Staff have considered three options:

1. clarify and enforce the three-dimensional requirement;

2. remove the three-dimensional requirement and re-instate the regulations that apply to projecting signs in the rest of the city; or

3. remove the three-dimensional requirement and leave the remaining site-specific projecting sign regulations in place (this is the amendment requested by Henderson Development).

Option 1 does not solve the problem. The higher cost of designing and manufacturing creative three-dimensional signs will constrain the development in attracting and retaining tenants who utilize standard well-recognized corporate signage to attract customers. Staff have also concluded that clarifying the intent of the three-dimensional requirement in the By-law will require an extremely complex definition, difficult to administer and enforce.

Option 2 would substantially reduce the number of projecting signs permitted for the development. For example, Starbucks would only be allowed one projecting sign on Abbott Street where two now exist. In addition, some of the architectural features on the building preclude signage as allowed in the rest of the city. Re-instating the city-wide regulations might eventually lead to alteration of these features. The city-wide regulations also limit opportunities for three-dimensional signage.

Option 3 would allow signs with both two- and three-dimensional copy - the regulations would be the same for both. Option 3 will allow the development to have the benefit of a greater number and larger signs than allowed in the rest of the city, without any requirement for creativeness or uniqueness. On balance, staff feel this is the best option since it preserves opportunities for three-dimensional signs while also providing for two-dimensional signs in locations where the building's design contemplated signage.

Staff regret that the development may end up with the same type of signs that exist in the rest of the city, contrary to the original concept whereby the developer "earned" the right to larger and more signage in exchange for creativity. On the other hand, it is not in the City's interest to inhibit International Village's ability to attract and retain tenants, with resulting vacant storefronts. For this reason, staff recommend approval of the amendment requested by Henderson Development Ltd.

In addition, staff are recommending that the amendment go beyond Henderson Development's application. The three-dimensional requirement exists in five clauses of the projecting sign regulations for International Village. Henderson Development has applied to remove "three-dimensional" from two of these clauses which apply to first and second storey tenant locations. To avoid problems in the future with interpretation and application of the three-dimensional requirement, staff recommend that three-dimensional be deleted from all five clauses.

An additional amendment is also recommended to clause (xi) of the projection sign regulations to correct a street name error describing the location of one of the galleria entrance signs.

Comments of the Applicant: The applicant has been provided with a copy of this report and has provided the following comments:

"Henderson Development (Canada) Ltd. has utilized creative and innovative signage in International Village as evidenced by the high quality of design of the environmental graphics installed to date. The intent, however, in creating the environmental design package, has always been to incorporate existing Vancouver Sign Bylaw regulations and to devise strategies that would allow the desired creative signage. The amended Schedule I as put forward in this report will allow the envisioned environmental graphics package to be translated into Schedule I of the Vancouver Sign Bylaw without the administrative problems that have come to light."

CONCLUSION

Staff recommend that the site-specific sign regulations for 88 West Pender Street be amended to delete the three-dimensional requirement and to correct a street name error.

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APPENDIX A

AMENDMENTS TO THE SIGN BY-LAW
Schedule I - International Village "A"
[88 West Pender Street]

(Line through indicates proposed deletions; bold italics a correction)

(i) Projecting Sign, except that:

(i) Section 10.11 and 11.1.1 shall not apply;
(ii) despite clause (i), a sign shall not project within 600 mm of the nearest curb;
(iii) for first storey premises, three-dimensional signs not exceeding 800 mm vertical by 5 m horizontal parallel to the building face, projecting no more than 2 m from the building face and with a minimum clearance of 2.6 m shall be permitted;
(iv) for first storey premises or adjacent to the parking entrance, three-dimensional signs not exceeding 800 mm vertical by 1 m horizontal being perpendicular to the building face, and with a maximum 500 mm horizontal dimension parallel to the building face, a maximum projection from the building face of 2 m and a minimum clearance of 2.6 m shall be permitted on each building column;
(v) for second storey premises, three-dimensional signs not exceeding 2 m vertical by 3.5 m horizontal parallel to the building face and projecting no more than 500 mm from the supporting metal framing shall be permitted above the second storey bay windows;
(vi) at the corner of Abbott and Keefer Streets facing Keefer Street, a sign at the third storey not exceeding 5.2 m vertical by 9.6 m horizontal and projecting no more than 500 mm from the building face shall be permitted;
(vii) at the corner of Pender and Taylor Streets facing Taylor Street, a sign at the third storey not exceeding 4 m vertical by 9.4 m horizontal and projecting no more than 500 mm from the building face shall be permitted and may be a third-party sign for a major tenant;
(viii) at Abbott Street, a sign providing identification to the entrance to the parking garage shall be permitted provided that the sign, being a curved face, does not exceed 5 m horizontal by 750 mm vertical parallel to the building face, and projects no more than 2.3 m from the building face;
(ix) at Abbott Street, a three-dimensional sign providing building identification and located above the sign defined in clause (i)(viii) shall be permitted provided that the sign is a dome shape suspended in a vertical position having a diameter not exceeding 2.5 m and projecting no more than 1 m from the building face;

(x) at the corner of Abbott and Pender Streets, an animated sign incorporating sequenced neon lighting shall be permitted provided that the sign, mounted on a curved wall at the third storey of the development, covers an area of no more than 200 m², projects no more than 1.5 m from the building face, and has a minimum clearance of 10.6 m; and
(xi) at the Abbott and Keefer Streets and Keefer Pender and Taylor Streets entry points, three-dimensional signs with a variety of shapes and lighting devices identifying the building and supported away from the main building structure by a variety of suspension and cantilevered frames shall be permitted provided that the signs are contained within a globe shape with a volume not exceeding 6 m diameter and with a clearance of no less than 8 m and no more than 10 m;

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver