The dispute about the size of signage at the new Dolly’s Home Hardware outlet on Second Avenue in Qualicum Beach appears to be a case of comparing apples and oranges, say town staff.
Planner Luke Sales said a recent photograph of Dolly’s owners Bryan and Liz Virgin beside a mockup of a sign at the construction site had no relation to what council approved that he can see.
“The printed mockup that the owners posted on their building was significantly under scale, and is in no way a representation of the signage that was approved in their development permit,” Sales said. “It had no relation to the sign that was approved. I’m absolutely baffled where they got that from.”
Sales suggested the sign dimensions may have come from an entirely different set of plans.
“The sign we approved is much bigger,” he said. “I asked Liz what plans they were working from and she sent me a plan from sign personnel who said the sign was 10 feet long, but the sign we approved is 15 feet long, so I’m not sure we are working from the same information.”
Sales said he believes the dispute is just a misunderstanding.
Liz Virgin agreed there was some dispute about the sign dimensions, noting her mockup only included the letters, while the entire sign also includes a surrounding red background.
“The sign we showed had the right height for the letters,” she said. “However, it stretches out more a bit.”
Virgin said she and her husband, who is recovering from bruised ankles resulting from a fall from the roof of the new building, will co-operate with the municipality to get the job completed.
“We are going to do what the town wants right now, and once we are in it and finished, we can fight,” she said.
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