Issue

The City of Medicine Hat is currently experiencing significant non-compliance with both digital and traditional signage regulations. This has resulted in safety concerns, increased public complaints, and growing enforcement demands on limited municipal resources. Concerns have also been raised that digital signage may contribute to visual clutter, conflict with downtown revitalization goals, and reduce the area’s attractiveness for residential development, resulting in digital sign applications being denied in Downtown Medicine Hat. At the same time, there is ongoing consideration of digital signage as a tool for business visibility and downtown economic activity.

Background

Medicine Hat’s downtown core continues to face increasing competition from alternative commercial centres, coupled with growth in online retail. In response, the City has identified residential development and strategic placemaking as key priorities to support long-term downtown revitalization, as outlined in the Municipal Development Plan.

However, the current signage environment presents several challenge, such as non-compliance pressures, sign proliferation, policy alignment concerns and signage detracting from residential attractiveness and placemaking goals.

At the same time, digital signage is widely recognized as a tool that can support business visibility, promote events, and contribute to a more active and engaging downtown environment when properly managed.

Digital signage presents both opportunities and risks within the downtown core. Addressing current non-compliance challenges must be a priority so it doesn’t deter from future opportunities.

A measured, phased approach - focused on compliance, design quality, and alignment with downtown revitalization goals - provides a practical path forward that supports both economic development and community expectations.

Other Alberta municipalities, including Edmonton, Calgary, and St. Albert, have demonstrated that digital signage can be successfully integrated into urban environments, including downtown areas, through clear zoning, technical standards, and consistent enforcement. The key differentiator is not whether digital signage is permitted, but how it is managed with clear rules and active enforcement, along with strategic guidance that reduced ambiguity and technical standards that reduce risk at the designs stage.

The Southeast Alberta Chamber of Commerce would recommend a regulated versus prohibited approach to digital signage, similar to other municipalities in Alberta, that prioritizes design and technical standards, enforceability, and aligns with downtown revitalization goals.

Recommendations

1. Require the removal of existing signage as a condition of approving new digital signage so it doesn’t lend to net new signage, but instead provides a new avenue for advertising.
2. Prohibit stacking or layering of multiple sign types at a single location
3. Provide for digital signage approvals to a small number of locations in commercial corridors with clear criteria, including safety, compliance rates, and public feedback
4. Encourage use of digital signage for community events, wayfinding, and public information
5. Strengthen technical and design standards to mandate automatic brightness controls and reduced nighttime illumination as well as minimum distances from intersections and sensitive uses

Date Approved: October 21, 2026