Senior says Saint John needs a clear policy on signs

A Saint John man says there seems to be two sets of rules for different groups when it comes to putting up signs in the city, which is giving seniors a raw deal.

Wayne Doucette, a member of the a seniors coalition, wanted to advertise an upcoming meeting in Saint John, so he put a homemade sign near a busy intersection on Loch Lomond Road.

Doucette says he spent $30 on the sign and got advance permission from Silver Falls United Church, which he believed was the owner of the property.

Doucette says a requested meeting with the city's law enforcement inspector and planning department confirmed otherwise.

"The sign was two feet off church property, so I said, 'OK, fine, I'll put that back.' They also said the sign was double faced and painted on both sides and only one side was allowed," he said.

Doucette was also told by the city to get a $118 building permit for the sign, which he agreed to.

"We swallowed it all, though I we felt it was robbing the seniors, then all of a sudden, I come out here one day and I see these two big, humongous signs in front of our signs we paid for, blocking our signs," he said.

"Well the situation is, our sign is there and it cannot be seen because of the two political signs in front. We were told we had too much signage, and yet look at Mr. [Wayne] Long's sign, it goes around the corner, he's got double the signage we've got."

City won't interfere with election signs

Doucette says the signs are blocking his message, and even worse, they get to do it for free.

To some degree that's true, said Coun. Shirley McAlary.

"The city has never interfered with the federal or provincial signage for a candidate unless the signage is placed in an area that blocks the view of traffic," she said.

McAlary says the city doesn't have a proper bylaw for signage, which adds to the confusion.

"No one knows who has authority, because we don't have any policies and that makes it difficult," McAlary said.

But she says Doucette's sign was generating complaints from residents.

"These homemade, hand-made signs looked unprofessional, they are hard to read for cars going by and we had several complaints, that with us right in the height of tourism season, that it didn't look pleasant," said McAlary.

"Even though we don't have a proper signage law, there is a law saying you cannot put signs out on public property or city right of ways or property owned by the city.

"If someone complains about signage, if we look at it and feel it's not appropriate, we do remove it."