Vancouver, Canada - February 18, 2010: Granville street entertainment district at night during the Winter Olympics

Signs and the City

We’re working on the second phase of updating the Sign By-law and we want to hear from you.

Because signs play a prominent role in our environment and have an impact on everyone, we’re looking for your input for our review of the Sign By-law.

Vancouver is changing and so have signs and technology. We now have more signs and different kinds of electronic and digital signs are available.

We’re now working on Phase 2 of the Sign By-law Review

This review will focus on billboards, advertising signs, and electronic signage.

Currently, Vancouver’s sign regulations don’t reflect changing technology or broader opportunities for community benefits such as airtime for public art, Amber Alerts, or community announcements.

Read about Phase 1
In 2016 and 2017, a review of the Sign By-law began. Phase 1 of the review resulted in updates to regulations on private property and business identification signage.

After consulting with stakeholders and community members, we updated policies and processes to:
- Better reflect current best practices
- Promote good signage
- Enhance compliance with City policies and corporate objectives
- Improve user-friendliness.

What's happening

Open houses

Thank you to everyone who participated in the open houses held on November 23 and November 27.

Read the sign by-law phase 2 open house information display (37 MB)

Online survey

Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts as part of the Sign By-law review phase 2 online survey. We're now summarizing the feedback and will share the results soon.

Next steps

The information you provided will help us create a draft framework for this kind of signage in Vancouver, including ideas for how to regulate them. We'll be asking for more feedback on policy options in early 2020.

What does the Sign By-law do?

The Sign By-law regulates signs that businesses use to identify themselves on private property and provides specifications for the size, shape and height of signs. The by-law also regulates where a sign may be placed on a building or site.

Generally, more prominent signage is permitted in the downtown core area and local commercial areas, while signs in residential areas are the most restricted.

Currently, the by-law does not regulate signs on streets, sidewalks, parks, provincial and federal lands, or signs located inside buildings that are not visible from the street.