York Region amends election signs laws for safety reasons

YorkRegion.com
July 2, 2015
Lisa Queen  

Candidates in the upcoming federal election, take note, York Region has amended its bylaw governing election signs.

While the bylaw will apply to candidates at all levels, it will be first tested out on candidates running in the Oct. 19 federal election.

The bylaw amendments are intended to help ensure signs don’t reduce visibility at intersections or interfere with transit stops and access to sidewalks and utilities.

Candidates will have to pay a non-refundable $250 permit fee for each municipality in which they want to install signs.

Signs not posted properly will be collected by the region and returned to candidates following the election.

No more than two signs per candidate will be allowed at each intersection, with a maximum of one sign per corner.

Signs will be prohibited at certain intersections with limited space.

Election signs for the federal election can be posted no earlier than 10 a.m. on Sept. 21 and must be removed 72 hours after the polls close.

The revisions are a first step toward aligning election sign bylaws between the region and the nine local-tier municipalities.