Digital billboard plan has Leaside opponents seeing red

A complaint has been filed with the city’s integrity commissioner over a rental agreement with Outfront Media for an LED billboard.

Thestar.com
July 13, 2016
By Jesse Winter

A proposed new digital billboard in Leaside is keeping some residents up at night, though it doesn’t even exist yet.

Activists and some local residents oppose a plan by Outfront Media to build an advertising billboard lit with LED lights at the Leaside Memorial Community Gardens.

Dave Meslin, one of the project’s opponents, filed complaints with the city’s integrity commissioner against two city councillors, John Campbell and Jon Burnside, and the chair of the Leaside arena board of management, Ray White, claiming Outfront Media violated bylaws by promising the arena an additional $40,000 a year in rent if the sign goes ahead.

“It’s not about this sign in particular. It’s kind of a dangerous precedent to have companies purchasing public support for these projects,” Meslin said.

Meslin, who doesn’t live in Leaside himself, said his primary concerns are potential light pollution from the new sign and its potential to distract drivers passing by.

Outfront has applied for a bylaw variance to build the sign and lobbied local councillors for approval.

The city’s Code of Conduct for members of local boards requires a “blackout period in the planning approval processes during which discussions about voluntary donations for community benefits are not permitted and voluntary donations may not be offered, solicited, or accepted.”

Meslin says the $40,000 in promised fees is “essentially a form of institutionalized bribery: money being offered in exchange for special treatment or policy.”
Stephen McGregor, Outfront’s vice-president of real estate, vigorously disputes that assertion, calling the allegation “profoundly inaccurate.”

“City councillors hate to see that sort of thing,” McGregor said, “but there is no issue with integrity here. What there is, is a very effective activist who’s made this a personal mission.”

McGregor characterized Meslin as an “anti-sign, anti-business, anti-development activist.” He said city research shows no correlation between digital signs and driver distraction, and that a plan to shut the sign off at night will address the issue of light pollution.

Councillor Jon Burnside, whose Don Valley West ward includes the site of the proposed sign, said he received about 45 calls and emails from people who support the project, and only five from opponents. Another 320 signed a pro-billboard petition.

A new online petition against the sign has now reached 233 names.

Burnside said he’s not particularly concerned about the complaint against him.

“Anyone can complain,” Burnside said. “That’s Mr. Meslin’s right … I think he misunderstands the facts. There were no gifts or donations involved.”

Both Burnside and McGregor said the additional $40,000 per year represents the increased rent agreement negotiated between the arena and Outfront. It brings the total annual rent for the sign from $9,500 per year for the existing conventional sign to $60,000 per year for the new one, Burnside said.

The Leaside Property Owners Association wrote a letter to the city arguing against the sign.

Geoff Kettel is co-president of the LPOA and shares Meslin’s concerns. He told the Star he wants city council to defer a vote on the sign until the integrity commissioner has a chance to review the complaints Meslin filed.

“I think it puts the whole community in a conflict of interest situation,” Kettel said.

Councillor John Campbell (Ward 4, Etobicoke Centre) said he was not concerned about the complaint against him or even overly interested in the sign itself, given that it’s not in his ward.

He merely moved a motion to accept it as a procedural favour to his colleague, Burnside, he said.

Leaside arena board chair Ray White did not return multiple requests for comment.

City staff originally recommended rejecting Outfront’s application, but that recommendation was reversed by the city’s Planning and Growth Management Committee at a June 15 meeting.

City council is slated to vote on the proposed sign this week.