Executive Summary: Key Legal and Evidentiary Issues

• This appeal concerned whether the City of Edmonton Subdivision and Development Appeal Board erred in law by finding it had no authority to grant a requested variance for a rooftop advertising sign.
   
• Pattison Outdoor Advertising Ltd's sign, first approved in 2014 and 2019, did not fit neatly into any "Use" category under the City's new Zoning Bylaw 20001, which took effect January 1, 2024.
   
• A deeming provision in section 7.20.3.3.2 of the Zoning Bylaw allows a Development Planner to designate an appropriate Use where a proposed activity does not conform to any single Use definition.
   
• Justice Slatter granted permission to appeal in June 2025, finding the applicant had met the threshold test of raising a question of law of sufficient importance with a reasonable chance of success.
   
• The standard of review applicable to questions of law, including bylaw interpretation, is correctness, as established in Vavilov and Housen v Nikolaisen.
   
• On the merits, the panel found the Board's reasons did not explain why it declined to apply the deeming provision, warranting remittal for reconsideration.

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Facts of the case

Pattison Outdoor Advertising Ltd operates an existing rooftop advertising sign in Edmonton that displays digital copy. The sign was first approved under a development permit in 2014, and again in 2019, under the bylaws then in force. On January 1, 2024, the City of Edmonton Zoning Bylaw 20001 came into effect, and Pattison applied for a new development permit for the sign under this bylaw, describing the proposed Use as "a Projecting Sign in the form of a Roof Sign (Digital Copy) 6.10 m x 3.05 m." The proposed sign did not fit neatly into any single Use category under the new bylaw; it most closely resembled both a Projecting Sign and a Minor Digital Sign. The Development Authority denied the permit application, and the City of Edmonton Subdivision and Development Appeal Board (the Board) dismissed Pattison's appeal in a decision dated April 22, 2025 (SDAB-D-25-048). Pattison then sought and, in 2025 ABCA 210, was granted permission to appeal to the Alberta Court of Appeal on the question of whether the Board erred in law in concluding it lacked authority to grant the requested variance. That appeal was subsequently heard and decided in 2026 ABCA 262.

Policy and legislative provisions at issue

The case turned on section 7.20.3.3.2 of the Zoning Bylaw, a deeming provision stating that where specific purposes or activities do not conform to any Use definition, or generally conform to two or more Use definitions, the Development Planner may deem the purposes or activities to conform to the Use considered most appropriate, and that such a Use is always treated as a Discretionary Use regardless of whether it is listed as Permitted or Discretionary in the applicable zone. The Board had found that the sign was a "hybrid" with characteristics of both a Minor Digital Sign and a Roof Sign, which under Bylaw 20001 is subsumed within the definition of Projecting Sign, and concluded on that basis that it had no authority to grant the requested variance. The statutory framework for the appeal was section 688(1)(a) of the Municipal Government Act, which permits appeals from Board decisions on questions of law or jurisdiction, and section 688(3), which sets the test for permission to appeal.

Reasoning and analysis

The Court of Appeal applied the correctness standard to the question of law before it, consistent with the Supreme Court of Canada's guidance in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v Vavilov on statutory appeal mechanisms, and the appellate review framework in Housen v Nikolaisen. The panel noted that the sign sat in a Mixed-Use Zone where digital copy is permitted for some sign types but not others, and that the respondent City conceded the deeming provision could apply in these circumstances but argued the Board had properly exercised its discretion not to apply it. The Court found it could not discern from the Board's reasons why the deeming provision was not applied: if the Board considered the provision unavailable in a Mixed-Use Zone, that was an error of law, and if the Board instead declined to exercise its discretion to deem the development an appropriate Use, it gave effectively no explanation for that choice. Either way, the Court held the proper remedy was to remit the matter to the Board for reconsideration.

Ruling and overall outcome

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal brought by Pattison Outdoor Advertising Ltd, the successful party, and quashed the Board's decision. The matter was returned to the Board for reconsideration in light of the Court's reasons. The decision did not address costs or any monetary award, and the record does not indicate that damages, costs, or any other sum were sought or ordered — accordingly, the monetary award in this matter is $0.