Plan Commission ‘ugly step-sister’ in getting new sign?

Wayland City Planning Commission Chairman J.D. Gonzales Tuesday asked city officials why the process in getting a new electronic sign installed across the fire barn didn’t include input from the commission.

The new sign will greet visitors on West Superior and promote a number of local activities, including school events. The purchase was approved earlier this spring by the City Council, with input from the Downtown Development Authority, but the Planning Commission was bypassed entirely in the process.

“The DDA and the city deliberated for 16 months and never asked us,” Gonzales, adding, “We feel like we’re the ugly step-sister.”

The chairman said as far as he knows no one on the commission has any objections to the size and appearance of the new sign,

But, as Commissioner Gary Ragan said, “We’d just like to be informed (about what is going on).”

City Manager Tim McLean, Mayor Tim Bala and Councilwoman Lisa Banas were present during Gonzales’ remarks, and they tried to assure Planning Commission members there was no deliberate intention of leaving them out of any of the decision making.

Banas acknowledged that she was the one who asked DDA members about the sign’s appearance and compatibility.

The meeting marked the first time the City Planning Commission has worked with new Planning Consultant Kirk Scharphorn of Professional Code Inspections, who was just hired last month. He and commissioners went over a list of work tasks for the Planning Commission for 2016, one of which was to review sign regulations in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling, indicating content cannot be regulated.

Scharphorn said the of the list of tasks, “I don’t see anything on this list that we have to get done tomorrow. We can chip away at it.”

PHOTO: Nick Kortman (left) and Aaron Reichert from Kortman Masonry Tuesday evening were working on the brick base that soon will welcome the new electronic sign across from the fire station on West Superior Street.