Orillians have plenty to be proud of when it comes to their downtown.
Dedicated merchants offer an array of goods and services, and that variety has only grown in recent years, evolving with the times and offering a more international flavour of cuisine.
But, as business owners valiantly veer toward the future, the city is seemingly striving to keep them in the past.
The downtown sign bylaw has handcuffed merchants’ ability to express themselves, to appeal to the public in a way that is uniquely theirs.
What’s worse, the group that should be looking out for the businesses’ best interest is instead doing the city’s dirty work.
In late 2016, the sign bylaw was given a facelift — a botched procedure, to be sure. City council directed bylaw staff to seek out businesses that weren’t in compliance. In the 16 years prior to that decision, the bylaw had been enforced on a complaint basis. Now, the Downtown Orillia Management Board (DOMB) is tasked with being the first point of contact with the offending owners. It’s better than having a bylaw enforcement officer go into a store, potentially leading to a more acrimonious situation, the DOMB argues.
However, the DOMB should be hands-off when it comes to bylaw matters. If bylaw officers and shop owners cannot have a cordial conversation on their own, that is their problem to work out. The DOMB should be advocating for the businesses in the core, not pointing out their perceived imperfections to bylaw staff.
Since the 2016 bylaw update, nine businesses have been charged. Some are still going through the court process.
Goldsmith Carl McRob must obtain a permit for the lettering he has on his shop’s window. That permit would not be required, though, if he had an outdoor wall sign. It can cost a few hundred dollars to get that type of permit.
“I find that so asinine that I would rather go to court,” McRob told OrilliaMatters. He said he will likely remove the window sign rather than fork over the cash for a permit. “I’m not here to serve the City of Orillia; I’m here to serve the people of Orillia.”
Some were more understanding of the city’s and DOMB’s approach. Ultimately, as The Kitchen Store co-owner Mark Cadeau said, “a bylaw’s a bylaw.” Merchants are given plenty of opportunity to come into compliance. That doesn’t mean the bylaw makes sense.
As Coun. Sarah Valiquette-Thompson noted in a Facebook post on an OrilliaMatters story, “it was the DOMB that wanted the bylaw to remain intact. Our council listened to the wishes of the DOMB” when it approved the updated bylaw.
City council can hardly be faulted for acting on the DOMB’s recommendation. The board, after all, is the voice, at least officially, of its member businesses. With that in mind, business owners upset about the restrictive rules should lobby the DOMB, and lobby it hard. Hopefully, it will go better than some of their attempts to reinstate the two-day May sidewalk sale, which was cancelled in 2017 and exposed a clear divide between merchants and the board. The sale will return this year for one day only.
McRob said city and DOMB resources could be spent in better ways than hunting down businesses that have not complied with a bylaw whose rules can be, at least to the average consumer, inconsequential. Considering the court costs and other related expenses, we couldn’t agree more.
Enforcement efforts are currently focused on Mississaga Street. Once the city is done with the main street, it will turn its attention elsewhere. So, to businesses operating on side streets in the downtown core, get ready. You're next.
