Street and Traffic By-law – Electronic Advertising Signs
Motion 9 · Council Meeting, May 19, 2026
Summary
- Council approved amendments to the Street and Traffic By-law to allow large-format third-party electronic advertising signs to be placed on City streets (not including the roadway itself).
- This change implements the Public Realm Advertising Framework approved by Council in September 2025, which aims to generate non-tax revenue for the City while managing impacts to the public realm.
- Under the new rules, sign owners/operators must enter into a formal agreement with the City and obtain a permit from the City Engineer before installing any electronic sign on a street.
- Permit conditions can cover traffic safety, illumination levels, construction requirements, sign size and appearance, insurance requirements, and how quickly images may transition on screen.
- Agreements will include financial terms such as guaranteed payments or revenue-sharing arrangements, with specific deals to be negotiated case-by-case and brought to Council as needed.
- Staff note that electronic signs currently have no authorization under the Street and Traffic By-law, so this amendment fills that regulatory gap in a controlled way.
Vote
Public comments
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Transcript
14 segments
Thank you very much. Thank you, Councillor Kirby-Young, seconded by Councillor Plassen. Council, is there any discussion? Seeing no one in the queue, I will call the vote. If we can please go to the voting panel.
And that passes unanimously. Item number four, amendments to the street and traffic bylaw to authorize large format electronic advertising signs on streets. So before we begin, does anybody have a conflict that they need to declare? Seeing no one in queue, this item does not have a team member presentation. Councillor Orr, you held the item, so you have up to five minutes to ask questions.
Yeah, I just have a few questions around basically safety and distraction. I know that says the signs will avoid roadways and comply with the Motor Vehicle Act, but I just want to, similar to Councillor Domonato's questions around illumination, image timing, transitions, and whether or not large digital screens near pedestrian areas create distraction or safety issues.
Thank you. Good morning. Paul Storer, Director of Transportation. So what the bylaw amendment does is it allows signs on street right-of-way to be authorized. Through the process of authorizing those signs, we'd be doing a thorough review of those, including a review around road safety. What we are looking to use is the TAC guidelines that look at digital billboards near the roadway and look at things like spacing, transition time between messages, illumination, and conflict with things like traffic signals. So we'd be going through a thorough review process.
Okay, and then in terms of this sort of opening the door to wider expansion, what sort of safeguards are there to sort of prevent that in terms of just, you know, this kind of opening the door to that commercialization of public space type thing?
Ben Pollard, Chief Strategy Officer. So Council will still be engaged in any decisions around any particular signs that would go up in line with the Council-approved public realm advertising framework.
Okay, and so that would be, so I guess that answers my next question. What transparency and public oversight mechanisms will exist for contracts, revenue sharing agreements, and sign placement decisions? So that's the same answer.
Yeah, thanks. Just following up on that, that was going to be my question, is that each, this enables, this modernizes or updates the bylaw to allow electronic static images, my understanding, but each individual application is considered by staff. A determination is made with respects to safety parameters, et cetera, and then each one, and if there are sufficient public benefits, and then it is brought forward to Council and Council makes the ultimate determination.
Is that right?
Okay. And do we expect that we will be judicious in the number that is approved? We're not littering heat to proliferate these in the public realm, for example?
Yes. So the public realm advertising framework that Council approved in September 2025 does speak to that. Council will be the one that will say what the level of advertising in the public realm is or is allowable. And so, yeah, we don't expect this to be a significant opening. We expect this to be a small number that provide the maximum public benefit to the city.
Okay. Thank you. Happy to move the recommendation.
Statement Watch
Thank you. Good morning. Paul Storer, Director of Transportation. So what the bylaw amendment does is it allows signs on street right-of-way to be authorized. Through the process of authorizing those signs, we'd be doing a thorough review of those, including a review around road safety. What we are looking to use is the TAC guidelines that look at digital billboards near the roadway and look at things like spacing, transition time between messages, illumination, and conflict with things like traffic signals. So we'd be going through a thorough review process.
Okay, and then in terms of this sort of opening the door to wider expansion, what sort of safeguards are there to sort of prevent that in terms of just, you know, this kind of opening the door to that commercialization of public space type thing?
Ben Pollard, Chief Strategy Officer. So Council will still be engaged in any decisions around any particular signs that would go up in line with the Council-approved public realm advertising framework.
Statement Watch
Ben Pollard, Chief Strategy Officer. So Council will still be engaged in any decisions around any particular signs that would go up in line with the Council-approved public realm advertising framework.
Okay, and so that would be, so I guess that answers my next question. What transparency and public oversight mechanisms will exist for contracts, revenue sharing agreements, and sign placement decisions? So that's the same answer.
Okay, that's enough for me.