Below is the response received from York Region regarding the many by-election signs on regional roads that contravene the sign bylaw.
If you see any election signs on regional roads that you think are a safety concern please contact transitinfo@york.ca
BY-ELECTION SIGNS – ARE THERE NO RESTRICTIONS?
On December 27th, 2021 the Richmond Hill Mayoral candidates were allowed to start putting up their election signs for the Mayoral by-election.
CAG has already been receiving questions about whether or not there are any rules or restrictions on where election signs may be placed and how many.
The short answer is “yes”, there are very specific rules applicable to signs being permitted by York Region on Regional Roads that restrict where and how many signs may be posted.(i.e. Bathurst, Yonge, Bayview, Leslie, Hwy 7, 16th/Carville, Major MacKenzie, Elgin Mills, 19th/Gamble, Stouffville, King, & Bloomington)
All candidates would have received information on York Region’s Sign Bylaw No. 2015-36 which states:
No more than two (2) signs per registered candidate shall be permitted at any one intersection and no more than one (1) sign per registered candidate shall be permitted on any one corner of an intersection
Signs are only permitted at intersections on Regional roads (i.e. should not appear in between intersections).
There are many Regional Road intersections where signs are not permitted at all. Click here for a complete listing
The bylaw states that signs placed in contrary to York Region’s Sign Bylaw should be removed by York Region and/or local municipal staff (Note: residents are prohibited from removing signs under the Municipal Act).
With nine (9) candidates running in the by-election it’s likely that we could see as many as eighteen (18) signs legally posted at permitted Regional Road intersections. If you add in illegal signs it could be as many as 72 at each intersection.
CAG has done a quick survey of the Regional Road intersections to see how well the candidates have been complying with the Regional Sign Bylaw.
The following lists provide information on our findings. View PDF version here
To be fair, it is worth noting that some candidates will have multiple teams of volunteers erecting signs which could lead to an extra sign (or two) to be erected inadvertently due to overlap.
While there are other restrictions applicable to how close to a curb, fire hydrant, bus stop/shelter, or driveway signs may be erected, the main complaint we hear is the number of signs residents see at intersections.
CAG will be sharing these findings with York Region staff and we will post whatever response we receive from the Region.