50 Foot Sign

One the the things about building communities at an auto and not at a people scale is that you end up with things that you'd rather not have. For example at the February 21 City of Langley Council meeting, a development variance permit for two 50 foot signs was approved by council for the new development at Glover Road and the Langley Bypass. A 50 foot sign is about as tall as a five storey building which will make this sign the second tallest structure in the City of Langley! The developer noted that:

"The internal dealerships need a presence on the roadway and the height is required to ensure visibility to drivers traveling at highway speeds."

Freestanding signs rarely contribute to the urban fabric of the community and further cements the notion that people and good urban design don't belong on the Langley Bypass. The Langley Bypass is one of the ugliest, most uninspired, and non-sustainable routes in the South of Fraser and one of the few commercial roads without a sidewalk that I can think of. It doesn't present a good imagine of Langley.

With the approval of these signs, I wonder if others will apply for similar five story signs along the Bypass. Now that the precedence is set is there much point in a sign bylaw?