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BUILDING & DEVELOPMENT
Date: January 19, 1998
Author/Local: CWarren/6033
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: General Manager of Community Services
SUBJECT:Awnings and Awning Signs (Proposed Amendments to the Sign, Building, Zoning and Development Fee By-Laws)
RECOMMENDATIONS
A.THAT the Director of Land Use and Development be instructed to make application to amend the Sign By-law to revise the awning sign regulations, generally in accordance with Appendix A;
FURTHER THAT the Director of Legal Services be instructed to prepare the necessary by-law; and
FURTHER THAT the application and by-law be referred to Public Hearing, together with the recommendation of the Director of Land Use and Development to approve the application.
B.THAT, subject to the approval of the Sign By-law amendments at Public Hearing, the Director of Legal Services be instructed to bring forward amendments to the Zoning and Development Fee By-law and Building By-Law, at time of enactment of the Sign By-Law amendments, to reduce the fee for awning development applications and revise the Building By-law awning regulations, generally in accordance with Appendices B and C.
C.THAT Council approve the establishment of a new Permit and Plan Reviewer position in Permits and Licenses, source of funds to be the 1998 Permits and Licenses budget, to be offset from additional permit revenue.
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.
Council policy, as reflected in the Building and Sign By-Laws, permits awnings and awning signs, subject to various regulations. Council has committed to improving the quality of City services through the Better City Government program.
The purpose of this report is primarily to propose amendments to the Sign, Building and Zoning and Development Fee By-laws. However, other administrative changes which staff are proposing to implement to improve awning permit processing are included for Council’s information in Appendix D.
The initiation of the Better City Government (BCG) program has resulted in a number of actions to improve services and reduce costs. In an April 1997 report to Council discussing BCG initiatives, the General Manager of the Community Services Group committed to singling out and providing Council with alternatives to a few isolated regulations which have been particularly problematic to applicants or which have been ineffective in achieving public intent. One of those mentioned was the set of regulations regarding awnings and awning signs. The General Manager committed to developing a simpler, more straightforward set of regulations and permissions which would be both less onerous and more effective. Staff believe that we have now developed a system which not only protects the public interest better, but does it in a more efficient and simple manner.
Over the past couple of years, some members of the awning sign industry have raised concerns regarding the City’s regulation, permitting and enforcement process for awnings and awning signs. These concerns have included:
1.Application and permit costs which sometimes exceeded the cost of the awning;
2.Uneven enforcement, so that companies trying to comply with the regulations are, in effect, penalized for doing so;
3.Changes without notification or consultation;
4.Different interpretations of the requirements from different staff;
5.Lack of clear regulations and guidelines for both staff, industry representatives, and clients; and
6.Too lengthy processing time.
Staff have also become frustrated with processes which are not always clear, consistent or appropriate, particularly because the City "actively promotes" awnings in many zones for the purpose of pedestrian weather protection.
The combination of concerns of both industry and staff led the General Manager of Community Services to request a thorough review of our current processes with a view to recommending a "simpler, more consistent, more equitable and more effective procedure".
Process: The coordinator of the awning review met individually and in meetings with over fifteen staff, in three departments, who were involved in the process of regulating awnings. (The number of staff itself is some indication of the cumbersome nature of the existing process.) The discussions included awning and sign regulations, as well as Council-adopted design and weather protection guidelines that affect many commercially-zoned districts.
Fifteen awning companies were invited to participate in the review and six of these were actively involved. The others have been kept informed of the process. The involved industry representatives developed an initial set of concerns and recommendations and since then, have worked with staff on: refining recommendations; developing modifications to the by-laws; and designing the "decal" which has been proposed.
The recommended amendments and administrative changes follow. However, there is one outstanding issue which requires mention here. Staff note that there can be conflict between awnings and street trees; specifically, they can get in each other’s way to the disadvantage of both. Staff had hoped to include a by-law amendment which required that awnings not be permitted within a certain distance of a street tree. However, a setback will not resolve all areas of conflict and may preclude awnings in some areas, due to narrow sidewalk widths. The issue is being referred to Planning, Engineering and Parks for further consideration of all the possible combinations and areas of conflict.
Recommended Amendments to the Sign By-law
Awning industry representatives suggested a number of relatively small amendments to the awning sign regulations to reflect current processing practice and to enable awnings to be allowed in some instances where present regulations preclude them. The amendments allow awning signs on awnings which do not project one metre from the building, in some circumstances, and also allow awnings to extend above the floor of the second storey. The amendments are detailed in Appendix A.
Included in the recommended amendments, and also suggested by the awning industry, is a requirement for the City to issue decals at the time of awning sign permit approval. The decal(s) would be permanently attached to the awning(s) and located as specified in the amendments, to be easily visible to City enforcement officers. The purpose of the decal is to confirm that an awning sign permit has been issued by the City. Decals (or the absence thereof) will greatly enhance enforcement staff’s ability to take action, thereby "leveling the playing field" for those companies which comply with City regulations. It is the belief of both industry representatives and staff that compliance, and consequently revenue, will increase significantly as a result of this amendment. The decal amendment does, however, require a new permit for an awning sign when the awning skin is replaced. The awning industry agrees this requirement is necessary.
Recommended Amendments to the Zoning and Development Fee By-law
Staff recommend that development permit fees for the awning structure be reduced from $390 to $100 to more accurately reflect the time and effort expended by staff to review and approve permit applications. This fee applies to some awnings added to existing buildings. Awnings which are designed and constructed as part of a new development do not, and would not, pay this fee since the approval would be granted as part of the permit for the development.
Recommended Amendments to the Building By-law
Staff recommend that the Building By-Law be amended to clarify the design specifications regarding water, snow and ice accumulation and to make clearance regulations consistent with those in the Sign By-law.
The amendments described above are set out in detail in Appendices A, B and C of this report.
Proposed Administrative Changes: In addition to by-law amendments, further changes are proposed with the purpose of both streamlining the awning permit process and placing staff responsibility and authority where it is most appropriate. These changes are outlined in Appendix D.
Enforcement: The City’s lack of ability to enforce its regulations is an important issue for those who abide by the regulations. Too often, companies which choose not to comply manage to "get away with" their non-compliance and are therefore able to charge less for their product or service or provide the service more quickly. The proposed awning decals will level the playing field for people in the awning industry by making enforcement easier for staff, thereby increasing our enforcement capacity.
In order for the City to undertake the consolidation of services and to upgrade our enforcement ability, staff are recommending an additional Permit and Plan Reviewer. This position would take on an active inspection/enforcement role for all signs - not just awnings -as well as provide the additional technical plan checking ability required by the increased demand generated by this new process. It is projected that increased enforcement of the by-law will generate increased revenue and will more than cover the costs of the new Permit and Plan Reviewer position.
In more specific terms, a random sampling of ten commercial blocks on East Hastings Street, Kingsway, Victoria Drive, Cambie Street and West Broadway revealed that less than 40% of existing awnings have permits. There is an average of 10 awnings per block face and very conservatively, 1,000 commercial block faces in the city. Including industrial areas, staff estimate that there are upwards of 15,000 awnings in the city. If 60% of those do not have permits, then - at 80% compliance, and an average of $75 per permit (it should be noted that there will be a variety of fees, ranging from $54 to $108) we could expect to collect $540,000 over a period of three to five years, to catch up on existing awnings without permits. Industry representatives estimate that over 500 new awnings are erected annually in the city, which would translate into $37,500 per annum, covering three quarters of the ongoing annual cost of the position being requested.
Awnings and awning signs add a decorative element to the city, provide a means of identification for commercial activity and are actively encouraged by the City as a means of pedestrian weather protection. The City’s regulations and administrative processes have been counter-productive, possibly overly restrictive and cumbersome with respect to awnings and awning signs. Staff therefore recommend that these problems be rectified through a combination of actions, described in the body of this report and the Appendices, that include changes to the Sign, Building and Zoning and Development Fee By-Laws and administrative changes related to permit processing and by-law enforcement. Although the amendments will mean that staff will have less ability to influence awning design on some buildings on the heritage register that are not designated, due to the streamlined processing, staff feel that this trade-off is necessary to achieve better compliance with the regulations.
PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO SIGN BY-LAW
AWNING SIGN REGULATIONS AND FEES
[Underlining indicates new or revised regulations;
overstrikeindicates deleted regulations]2.1Awning means a light detachable structure with a skin of fabric, sheet metal or other relatively flexible material, which is entirely supported from a building by a fixed or retractable frame and offers weather protection;
5.2 Exemptions From Permit Requirement
5.2.1A permit is not required for the following:
(a)a change of copy for a sign authorized under a previous permit provided that, in the case of an awning sign, there is no change in the awning skin;
[Section 5.3.1(b), not included due to its length, is to be deleted.]
5.5 Approval, Refusal, Revocation
5.5.6The Director may revoke at any time a permit issued for a sign over any street or public property where, in his opinion, the sign interferes with or will interfere with:
(a)the placement or use of equipment installed by the City or a utility company; or
(b)the use of the street or public property; or
©the visibility of any existing or planned traffic signal installations; or
(d)the health or placement of a street tree.
5.5.7The Director may issue a decal confirming that a sign permit has been issued.
One awning sign only in respect of any premises shall be permitted on eachface of an awning provided thatNo awning sign shall be permitted unless:
(a)80 percent of the length of the awning projects 1 m or more from a building except that the 80 percent requirement shall not apply to an awning that projects from a building in a semi-circle; or
(b)a professional engineer registered in the Province of British Columbia certifies that:
( I)the building cannot support the 1 m projection without structural alteration; and
(ii)the structural alteration required would exceed the cost of the awning;
in which case, an awning sign shall be permitted on the maximum projection that can be supported without structural alteration to the building exceeding the cost of the awning.
An awning sign shall be located only on the exterior front or the exterior or interior side face of an awning within 75 mm of the awning, and the awning supporting the sign shall not project within 600 mm of any curb line.
(a)The upper limit of an awning sign shall not exceed a height of 6 m or extend above the window sill of any window located directly above the awning on the second storey or, in the absence of a second storey, shall not extend more than 1.8 m above the roof line,
and the clearance of an awningsign shall not be less than 2.75 m, except that a sign painted on the softawning fringe may have a clearance of not less than 2.3 m.(b)The clearance of an awning sign shall not be less than 2.75m except that:
(i)where the grade below the sign slopes more than 0.1 m over the length of the awning, the clearance shall not be less than 2.6 m;
(ii)a sign painted on the soft awning fringe may have a clearance of not less than 2.3 m.
(c)Notwithstanding clause (b), the clearance of an awning sign may be less than specified where the sign does not encroach over a street.
The copy area of an awning sign, calculated using the vertical dimensions of both the copy and the awning face, shall not exceed 40 percent of the area of the face of the awning on which it is located.
(a)No awning sign shall be installed unless it has a decal issued by the Director permanently attached to the awning.
(b)Where a sign permit applies to more than one awning, a decal is required for each awning.
(c)Where an awning has signs for more than one premises, a decal is required for each premises.
(d)The decal shall be attached:
(i)where a premises awning has an interior side face to the right of the front face when viewed from the street, with no other premises awning sign intervening, on the lower right hand corner of the interior side face; or
(ii)in all other cases, in a position on a face which enables the decal to be seen from the ground.
13.4.2When an awning sign will be or has been installed in accordance with Section5.3.1(b), a registration fee shall be paid to the City as follows:
For each awning sign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$34.00PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO ZONING AND DEVELOPMENT FEE BY-LAW
Add new fee category as follows:
19.For an awning where the permit will be issued combined with a building permit or a sign permit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $100.00
PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE BUILDING BY-LAW
[Underling indicates new or revised regulations;
overstrikeindicates deleted regulations]
(2)
Awningsormarqueesshall be designed and constructed so as to preventthe accumulation of water, snow or ice on any suchawningormarquee.Awning and marquee structural framing members and their connections to the supporting structure shall be designed in conformance with Part 4.(1)
Unless authorized by theCity Engineer,No portion of an awning or marquee shall be permitted to be less than 2.75 m above the level of the public sidewalk or established grade, except that where the sidewalk or established grade below the awning or marquee slopes more than 0.1 m over the length of the awning or marquee, the clearance may be not less than 2.6 m, and any soft fringe associated with it, when made of canvas, cloth or other similar material may have a clearance of not less than 2.3 m.Following are the administrative changes which staff will undertake if the by-law amendments are approved:
1.The administration of applications for awnings (with no sign copy on them) and awning signs (with copy) will be largely handled in the same place. In current practice, awnings require a building and development permit and awning signs require a sign permit and in some cases, also a development permit, requiring customers to deal with different staff. If an application for an awning does not include any other improvements, then it will be handled by the Permit and Plan reviewer dealing with signs.
2.At present, most awning applicants are required to go to the Engineering Department and fill out an application for a Permit to Use City Property. This has historically been required because most awnings project over sidewalks. The Engineering Department has suggested eliminating this requirement as long as we are assured of the structural integrity of both the awning and the attachments used to affix the awning to the building and that the awning has the appropriate clearance from the street.
3.Each and every awning installation will be required to have original sealed engineer drawings. The structural requirements for awning applications will be attached to the permit application (see Appendix F) and a Letter of Assurance for design and field review must be submitted to and accepted by the City prior to permit issuance. This places the onus for ensuring safety and for liability more squarely with the awning companies and their engineers. While stringent, this requirement will be equitable because it will be coupled with the decal amendment which assists enforcement.
4.Staff will issue a combined permit which will include sign, building and development permit requirements and approvals, except in the case of conditional applications that require discretionary review through the development application process. This, along with the eradication of the Engineering Services Permit to Use City Property requirement will, in effect, provide one stop shopping for awning permit applicants.
5.Permits will be issued by Permits and Licenses staff, with more responsibility and authority being vested with the Permit and Plan Reviewer assigned to signs. The Planning Department has made a list of all zones and their requirements regardingawnings. P&L staff will review permit applications in all of these zones except C-3A, DD and HA districts, which will still require review by development permit staff. Training has already taken place to transfer this responsibility.
6.New commercial business licensees of the City will be notified of these changes so that they understand the requirements of the City. Existing businesses will also be informed of these changes through advertisements in newspapers and journals and/or other appropriate means. In effect, if a business owner/tenant does not see a decal on their awning, they will know that a permit has not been issued. All sign and awning companies will obviously also be notified of the new regulations.
7.Awning company representatives will be invited to participate in any future changes to the process or regulations governing awnings.
STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS FOR AWNING PERMIT APPLICATIONS
Design Statements and Specifications
1.This awning structure has been designed to resist all live (lateral and vertical) loads and dead loads as specified in Part 4 of VBBL #6134. The structure has also been designed to conform to Part 11, Subsection 11.1.8., Construction of Awnings and Marquees, VBBL #6134.
2. Snow loading: Ground Snow Load (Ss) 1.6 kPa
Associated Rain Load (Sr) 0.3 kPa
Wind Effects: Probability 1/30 q = 0.55 kPa
Seismic Data: Za = 4, Zv = 4, v = 0.20
3.All structural steel shall be designed and constructed in conformance with CAN/CSA S16.1 – 1994
4.All aluminum shall be designed and constructed in conformance with CSA/CAN3 –S157 – M83.
5.All anchorage details shall be illustrated on the structural drawings and shall be demountable. All anchorage materials shall be sized and their applicable specifications and material properties shall be indicated on the structural drawings.
6.All drawings and specifications shall be sealed by the Structural Engineer of record and a Pa-2b Letter of Assurance for structural design and field review shall be submitted to and accepted by the City prior to Permit issuance.
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