Westville Village boosters have a big idea for welcoming people to their reborn commercial hub — just not as big as they originally planned.
In a show of abounding neighborhood pride, the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance proposed erecting nearly 17-foot-tall signs at three entrance points to the historic village.
The WVRA plans, submitted to the Board of Aldermen for approval, show the signs towering over a hypothetical person and nearly brushing the power lines on Fountain Street.
WVRA now plans to scale back its proposal, after city staff and the City Plan Commission balked at the size.
If permitted as proposed, they would have been “the tallest sign[s] in the city,” according to City Plan staffer Joy Ford.
She made those remarks at the City Plan Commission’s monthly last week.
WRVA Photo Illustrations
Whalley and Fitch, as envisioned with new sign.
WVRA — which has helped nurture a renaissance of the neighborhood’s commercial district into an arts-flavored hub — produced “photo montages” of the proposed signs, showing what they would look like if placed in the tree belts at Fountain Street and Alden Avenue, Whalley Avenue and Harrison Street, and Whalley and Fitch Street.
“Entering Westville Village Historic District,” reads one side of the sign.
“Leaving Westville Village Historic District,” reads the other.
Whalley and Harrison.
City Plan staff who considered the application had no problem with that part — indeed, they “appear carefully designed,” wrote staff in a City Plan report.
However, staff concluded, “they are unnecessarily large for the scale of the ‘village’ and for the 25 mph posted speed limit.”
The bottom of the sign would hang 11 feet and 10 inches above the ground, and the top of the sign would be 16 feet 9 inches tall. The signs themselves would be 5 foot 9 inches wide and 4 foot 3 inches tall. Each sign would be laser-cut steel or aluminum panel, mounted on a steel pylon, and “anchored to a concrete pad in the tree belt.”
“They’re rather gross in scale,” Ford opined, echoing a sentiment expressed around the room of city planners and commissioners.
“The pylons appear as large as a light pole or other tall structure” — and close to the height of the overhead wires, the City Plan report reads.
City Engineer Dick Miller advised that the signs have to be 18 inches below any telephone wires.
Maybe the proposed signs are so tall so that gangs and kids with spray cans can’t reach them, Commissioner Roy Smith offered.
Fountain and Alden.
The WVRA got grant money from the state Department of Economic and Community Development and the Tremaine Foundation to manufacture and install the signs, according to its application, which is being supported by Westville Aldermen Greg Dildine and Tom Lehtonen.
City Plan staff asked who would maintain the signs — if WVRA intends to do so, it will need liability coverage. All of the proposed sites sit in the state right of way, so the proposal would need state approval, too.
The commission voted to recommend approval of a sign — so long as it is “scaled down,” and the other concerns are addressed. The city “reserves the right to revoke the privilege for the signs if hazardous to pedestrians or motorists,” the commission added in the report it approved.
Alderman Justin Elicker, who sits on the City Plan Commission, said he applauds the effort behind the signs — a similar one just went up marking the Cedar Hill historic district — but he does find them a bit “too large.”
Reached after the meeting, WVRA Director Chris Heitmann said his organization will work to incorporate the City Plan Commission’s advice into its plans.