Wasaga Beach Bylaw dirty tricks

On July the 29th, the CAO for The Town of Wasaga Beach (during a special council meeting) shared with the public that Grandmas Beach Treats had 34 Signs that were in contravention of the towns new sign bylaw. He did not share the number of signs that he felt were non-compliant by any other business in town. (There are many) His comment was in response to a deputation given by Sylvia Bray to Council. She asked Council to re-consider a sign bylaw they were going to pass later in the meeting. Her primary concern was that the existing by-law was very poorly written and unnecessarily restrictive. The amendments they were considering would make the bylaw even more restrictive to all businesses in town.

It has always been our position that Section 4 of the existing by-law classifies our signs and the majority of signs you see in town as “grandfathered” and exempt from the sign bylaw as long as we do not modify them.

Another staff member, Danny Rogers, Wasaga Beaches, “General Manager of Development Services and Chief Building Official” (Huge title) said that her comment about weaponizing the bylaw department was “ASSENINE”

As well as the comments from staff the Council members also questioned or berated her.

It is possible the CAO did not want to share the entire history because his goal was to simply paint us as non compliant. If he was so certain, why all of the uncertainty in the emails from his staff?

Prior to the recent Council meeting, Sylvia Bray wrote to all members of Council expressing that there were problems that would affect all businesses and encouraged Council to delay their vote for another day. They did not.

The amendments they voted on are now part of the bylaw. They were poorly thought out amendments which contradict sections in their own bylaw, but they are so determined to push their agenda, they really don’t care. At that point they were over five hours in to a 10 hour meeting.

Note: This Council has been in office since the end of 2022. They have chosen the busy tourist season to weaponize their bylaws to create THEIR vision for what every business should look like. The number of people that have shared that they like the touristy feel of our property is astounding. Councilor Belanger stated that they would be starting enforcement with the most serious offenders.

So…. How many businesses have more than one sign per wall?

How many businesses have temporary flags out front?

How many signs cover more than 25% of their windows?

How many 35-50 year old pole signs will be removed despite being used every day?

Will every business be required to re-apply for every sign they retain? (Big bucks there)

Will those with roof mounted signs actually have to remove them? (Ludicrous)

The answer to those questions is maybe. Yes, if you pay another application fee and take the time, you can ask for a variance. The example the CAO gave to the variance process was the large lit up letters on our neighbours fence. (I think his sign looks great as well) But an important question remains. If any other business in town simply put up that sign they would be non compliant. Well, then they could ask for a variance. Of course they have already shown they like that style and size of sign, so everyone gets approval. Right? So why prohibit that sign in the first place. We understand our neighbour had quite the process AFTER it was installed in order to keep it.

Until after their meeting where the CAO said we had 34 signs that were non compliant, all of our window signs and two of our flag signs were 100% in compliance even by their interpretation. In no way were there 34 signs non compliant. We had two flags that needed to be moved and one temporary sign we installed for COVID which we have removed. For all other signs please note:

The following are exempt from the bylaw:

4.1.15 Permanent signs in existence upon the passing of this by-law, and which conform to the configurations set out in this by-law, shall be permitted to remain in place so long as there is no change or alteration to the sign.

Any change or alteration to a grandfathered sign may/shall require a

permit under this By-law.

General definitions for configuration refer to components being put together to make something whole.

Ie; configurations of software.

Dictionary definition is,

relative arrangement of parts or elements: such as

(1)

: SHAPE

So, based on the last official demand, the amendment to the bylaw and the current letter saying compliance must be by the 6th, we have had people ask,

At this point, we would like to share that we figured the new Council would be modifying the existing by-law again, they have already said so in the most recent communication yet they still demand compliance today.

Because of the sheer number of businesses that are in many ways non-compliant. It would be a nightmare to enforce the existing bylaw fairly across our community. If you are a business owner or you are friends with one, make enquiries, read the bylaw.

Virtually EVERY business should carefully read the sign bylaw. Every business should be held to the same standard, so it is logical that once they have dealt with us… more orders will follow. They may in fact be dealing in this manner with others but we have not heard of any.

To be clear, (possibly, our Mayors favorite term) Sylvia Bray sat as a Councilor for 4 years and then as a Deputy Mayor for four years. During that time, she never once asked for any special consideration for our business, nor received any.

In fact, the only thing we ever asked for was a study to consider making Mosley and 22nd a four way stop for safety purposes. (That was denied and we abandoned that request)

Because of her in depth experience, we both have the utmost respect for the importance of bylaws, positions on Council and for the positions of all senior staff.

However, we have no respect for any of the current Council members because of how they fulfill their obligations. EThere are also certain senior staff who demonstrate a continued disrespect for her and we have no confidence in their objectivity.

They claim they were not weaponizing this by-law action. If true, we ask for two lists….

1) How many other businesses in town have received written orders to be in compliance?

2) How many other businesses had the number of signs the town considers non-compliant listed in front of the CAO for his immediate recall.

We are hesitant to apply for a variance which was an option they suggested for businesses they could approve or deny.

Neither Sylvia nor I have decided if we will run in the next election yet. If we do, the regular social media trolls would claim we asked for special treatment. So, I repeat… We do not want to ask for ANY special treatment.

It is possible however that the appearance of our business may be adversely affected by the demands of our Council. So we may have to apply for new signage that exceeds the two small signs allowed per wall. At that time we may seek your help by writing in support of the application.

It is sad that we must take these various actions. However, this is the will of our Council and we choose to do business in the town they now control.

Online supporters of our Council and senior staff indicated publicly that they felt the signs on our property were left up to show defiance. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I repeat; Our position was and still is that our signage was compliant and still is. Please refer to section 4.1, and specifically section 4.1.15 of the bylaw numbered 2021 -68

We could fight these actions as we feel they are happening simply because we speak out politically.

There are times however, where it is easier to simply comply with improper orders in order to simply move on. We are too busy to fight right now.

To be very clear, if either of us run for Council in future, we have actually discussed closing or selling the business to avoid these accusations of special treatment.

Right now, we simply want to continue to serve the community we have chosen as our home.

We have always felt that we have the best staff, the greatest customers and a dedicated commitment to making our customers smile.

We thank you for any and all support at this time.

Please participate in the polls on the Grandmas Beach Treats Page to help us decide which signs to retain.

Link from original post fixed.

Mark and Sylvia

(Grandpa and Grandma)

videi link:
https://youtu.be/v5BenTfAy6I?si=MBmDYRAX8IQydcEY