New council rules shrinking storefront signage

Smith and Caughey building. Photo / Doug Sherring

Many Auckland businesses are alarmed at proposed new council rules shrinking signage on buildings and shop windows - potentially even blowing one department store's Christmas preparations.

Smith and Caughey director Terry Cornelius, supporting a Retail NZ submission on a draft council and Auckland Transport bylaw, told a hearings panel today a size restriction on advertising in shop windows would spoil the surprise of Christmas decorations now prepared behind signage.

"In a week or so we will cover them [the Queen St store's windows] up entirely to put in Christmas displays at the back of the signs and then have a big reveal," he told the three-member panel of councillors chaired by George Wood.

"Under the bylaw we will not be able to do that."The bylaw, which the council wants to introduce by June 30, would prohibit signs from covering more than 25 per cent of the width and height of shop-front windows.

Shops within boundaries in the old Auckland City Council are now allowed signs covering up to 50 per cent of total wall area, and various rules apply to other parts of the Super City which the new governing body is trying to bring into one document.

Retail NZ executive Greg Harford said his organisation, representing 1700 Auckland businesses, accepted a need for restrictions on signs in public places but did not believe in controls on private property.

"Signs are a key part of doing business, helping customers to know where goods are and businesses to prosper," he said.

Although part of the rationale for the bylaw is safety, to guard against dangerous distractions for drivers, Mr Harford accepted some "whizz-bang" electric signs may fall in definition but expected they would be covered by some other road rule.

Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas said his organisation stood to lose valuable income from a restriction on commercial advertising on large banners across main streets such as Broadway - to 33 per cent of their maximum size of 21 square metres.

"We think any changes may be unlawful and a breach of our relationship with the council," he said.

Phantom Billstickers general manager Jamey Holloway said his company, the largest in its field, promoted events for a wide range of performers and community groups and saw itself as "like a cultural town crier" which leased sites from Auckland Transport and worked closely with the council to ensure attractive signage.

Many of its posters were 1.5 square metres in size, and would have to be shrunk by two thirds to comply with a new proposed maximum of 0.5 square metres.

North Harbour Business Association general manager Janine Brinsdon said signs needed to be larger in industrial areas where property owners were trying to attract tenants and customers from afar, and it was important for the council to get the bylaw right, to ensure continuing prosperity for all.

A lawyer for six groups including hers and the Newmarket and Parnell business associations, Grant Hewison, was concerned at a proposal for all signs under building verandahs to be set back 0.8m from street edges along bus routes compared with 0.6m elsewhere.

He accepted such a rule may be required at bus stops, to allow safe passage for passengers, but extending the requirement along entire routes would be "unnecessary and problematic."

At the same time, the draft bylaw would require portable signs such as sandwich boards to provide 1.8 metres of clear footpath passage, down from 2m now in streets of the former Auckland City but an increase from 1.5m in Rodney.

Blind Foundation environment awareness adviser Chris Orr said the clearance should be at least 1.8m and preferable 2m from building lines, as footpaths cluttered with signs were particularly hazardous for his members.