Zanzibar loses appeal to keep street-level video sign

The owners of a downtown strip club have lost their battle with Toronto City Hall over a sign bylaw.

Zanzibar on Yonge Street has been ordered to turn off its sign – but we’re not talking about the large flashing light billboard atop the storefront. Instead, at issue is a 78-inch television screen at street level used to advertise the club’s services to those passing by.

“You can’t fight City Hall obviously,” said Allen Cooper, owner of Zanibar,

It all stems from a city by-law that states a first-storey sign must not exceed 20 per cent of the area of a wall.

Hundreds of similar notices have been handed out to businesses across the city over the past couple of months.

Cooper appealed the notice of violation but officially lost that appeal during a Variance Committee meeting on Tuesday morning.

City staff confirmed the decision in an email to CityNews this afternoon, saying the Sign Variance Committee agreed with a staff report that raised concerns that the sign wasn’t compatible with, and changed the surrounding area. They also said it wasn’t in the public interest.

“Definitely frustrating. I fought it out of principle,” admits Cooper. “It seemed unfair and ludicrous to me but we have to respect what they have ruled and we will comply with what they have ruled.”

Interestingly, the same type of television screen would be permissible just steps away from Zanzibar at Yonge and Dundas.

“Yonge-Dundas Square is a Special Sign District where electronic signs have been planned out and are permitted, subject to certain controls (size, brightness, location) set out in the sign bylaw,” according to a statement from Ted Van Vliet, Manager of the city’s Sign Bylaw Unit.

“The Zanzibar is in the Downtown Yonge Special Sign District which does not permit electronic signs.”

In fact, the city has two designed sign districts.

“One is at Yonge-Dundas Square, where we see the big proliferation of billboards,” Toronto Centre-Roseldale Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam told CityNews last week. “The other one is at Spadina and Dundas and that’s where we actually expect to see the electronic digital media billboards. That’s where we’ve programmed it, this is where we said we will embrace the concept of bright lights and big cities.”

The city says it’s already giving Zanzibar special treatment when it comes to its big, bright billboard high above the club’s main entrance.

“It’s been grandfathered, but would we allow those type of big three-storey signs to be put on every single building across the city today? There’s a very good chance the answer is ‘no,’ ” said Wong-Tam.

The business could face a $250 per day fine if it fails to comply with the by-law. Cooper is admitting defeat and says he’s already got a backup plan in mind.

“We intend to put up a fluorescent back lit poster, which apparently complies with the new regulations, which was there for about 20 years before this one. We do have a right to appeal to Superior Court, but I’ve had enough.”