A SIGN OF THE TIMES

SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — If Islander Peter Mellish has his way, it may soon become much easier to spot roadside services when hauling around the province.

That’s because he says he’s cautiously optimistic about the P.E.I. government’s plans to review its 25-year-old roadside signage policy.

The owner of the Starlite Diner in Summerside has been at the center of a two-year battle with the province over a sign that is the length of a tractor-trailer promoting his 1950s- and 1960s-styled restaurant along the Trans-Canada Highway east of the Prince County city.

The province demanded he remove the sign because it was contrary to the province’s roadside signage policy but Mellish refused.

Late Wednesday, Tourism Minister Greg Deighan announced that a Signage Policy Review Committee has been established to review provincial policies with respect to commercial signage.

“A great deal has changed since these policies were first established,” Deighan says. “Over the past number of years, substantial development has occurred on the Island and as a result it is timely that a review of signage policies be undertaken.”