ST. PAUL – Following a public hearing held on Sept. 9, Town of St. Paul council approved the finals readings of a Land Use Bylaw (LUB) amendment that allows electronic signs in Institutional Districts.
The amendment will permit electronic signs at several key institutions across St. Paul, including schools, the RCMP detachment, the St. Paul Ag Corral, and Portage College.
During the public hearing, no members of the public spoke in opposition of the bylaw.
The request to make the amendment came from Garry Perry, who is an independent development permits agent. Perry said during the public hearing that he has been working with Blanchett Signage Solutions and Conseil Scolaire Centre-Est (CSCE) to request changes in the LUB.
CSCE is the francophone school board in the region. They have schools in Bonnyville, Cold Lake, Lac La Biche, St. Paul, and Plamondon, and their central office is also located in St. Paul.
Perry said the request is part of a greater initiative by the francophone school division that aims to replace outdated manual signage with modern digital signs, providing greater flexibility and safety for staff responsible for updating the messages.
“This initiative would see a total of six freestanding digital signs installed across the region, including the two proposed . . . in St. Paul,” he said. These two would be at École du Sommet and CSCE’s central office.
All schools have received approvals from “individual approving authorities, and when necessary, Alberta Transportation,” said Perry.
“We believe the digital signs would enable staff members to change messages more safely,” especially in the winter months, he explained, while enabling staff to also change the messages on signs in a much more timely manner.
These messages range from notifications for students and parents, recognition and celebration of student successes, and delivery of critical and urgent alerts. The idea for the signs and the greater initiative is to meet the “growing communication needs of today’s schools,” according to Perry.
Perry said the signs will have automatic dimming features, according to the ambient light conditions, so they don’t become too bright or a distraction.
He said the amendment request will also mirror changes that have already been made across the province, including permitted use of signs in districts in the Bonnyville area and Lac La Biche, where other schools are located.
Council passed the second and the third reading after the public hearing.
While council members expressed general support for the amendment, they also discussed the potential impact on areas close to residential zones, such as those across from St. Therese Healthcare Centre.
Town of St. Paul Mayor Maureen Miller suggested the bylaw’s impact be reviewed in three to six months, particularly for locations where electronic signs could affect nearby residents.
“I would just like to be able to do what we need to do, but then be considerate of those others that are . . . within residential areas,” she said.
Coun. Nathan Taylor expressed support for the idea, but he also expressed concern regarding the efficiency of passing bylaws as requested, then having to revise the changes months later.
“We need to train our public that when bylaw amendments come, once and only once, they need to be here. And then, if someone is complaining about an electronic sign facing their home next to an institutional [district], I will refer them back to this meeting and say they should have been here now. Now, we're going to continue to have more and more amendments. . . We've done this once. Why are we doing it again?” he questioned.
Miller said she feels the LUB is a living document that gets revised as more information comes up.
“If we make an error, it’s not an error, it’s just we didn’t have all the information when we made the decisions,” she explained. “If we can make better decisions with more information, then I see it as a living document.”
A separate motion was approved to review the amended bylaw’s impact in six months.
