City council says no to Montessori School signs

Tori Sutton
Staff Reporter
Stratford councillors are no fan of the Sunshine Montessori School’s plan to erect two signs on the roof of their building at 426 Brittania St.

While sitting as the planning and heritage committee at Tuesday night’s meeting, council turned down a variance request to allow the roof signs, which would face the parking lot and parkland behind the school.

Sunshine Montessori principal Wayne Townsend said the signs would remedy problems the school has had with snow blocking the intakes of air conditioning units on the roof, along with making it more appealing. Two signs are needed as a ladder runs up the middle of the units, making it impossible to erect only one sign.

He noted the signs would only bear the school’s name and logo and that trees along the perimeter of the lot would block most of the view.

“It’s not about signage, it’s about trying to make the school look good,” said Townsend, who said boards could be put up around the air conditioners to protect them but thought signs would look nicer.

“The air conditioners that are on the roof line are making the school look more like a warehouse and we’ve put a fair amount of money into landscaping, trying to fix the school up and to make it look nice, to make it look more like a school.”

Townsend said St. Michael Catholic Secondary School already has two signs that face the park, one with the school’s name and another of a large cross. Mayor Dan Mathieson took exception to the comment that the cross was a sign, saying it was made of glass and brick and was an architectural feature of the building.

“I think that’s a little bit of a stretch to call that a sign, it’s an architectural design,” said Mathieson.

He also said the fact two signs would be erected causes a bigger problem.

“It’s one thing to get a variance to have a sign, then you’re going to have to split it so there’s two signs and then the size will actually be a variance over and above the amount of signage you’re allowed to have on the property,” said the mayor.

Planning and heritage chair Coun. Don Chapman said the trees on the site will continue to grow and mature and questioned why the school would want to spend the money when the signs won’t be seen by the public. Townsend said they will still be visible to those parking in the lot to enter the school.

Barbara Dembek, director of building and planning, said roof signs are not permitted under the city’s current sign bylaw, but were permitted in the past under the old bylaw.
Coun. Karen Smythe said council revised the bylaw for a reason and that she couldn’t see a point in putting up the sign if it wasn’t for advertising purposes and could barely be seen.

Coun. Dave Hunt was the only councillor to speak in favour of the variance, saying there are two schools and a city water tower behind the property.

“I figured if they were going to put the boards up there, the sign would probably would look better than just the boards and there’s only a few spots you would ever see the sign from,” said Hunt.

The matter requires final consideration by council at an upcoming council meeting.