The proposed Wayfarer signs at the civic center are huge – 6 foot by 6 foot — taller than most people
The agenda of the Thursday Dec. 6 Planning Commission includes an informational report on the downtown Los Altos Wayfarer Signs design and plan. A task force consisting of Planning Commissioners, LAVA representatives, and Chamber of Commerce representatives was formed last May by city council to work with the consultant to come up with a design and plan. (Graphics make this file link slow to load.)
LALAHPOLITICO COMMENT: We were expecting these signs would involve some graphic image of some kind painted on metal signs on poles, more or less like one sees for the “scenic routes.” But the plan design is way more ambitious that that.
Elements of the Plan
- Use of the traditional Los Altos sign letter font
- Gray weathered barn doors in a black wrought iron frame, with blacksmith fasteners
- Virtually all signs are mounted on the ground on a 8 inches of stacked stone
- Colors are orange (rust) and forest green
- Sizes range from …sheet of paper to … six foot by six foot
- Some signs could be lighted
Here’s the grey recycled barn door of the Los Altos Wayfarer sign design
Next Steps
The plan will be reviewed by each stakeholder organization, –Planning Commission, LAVA, and Chamber of Commerce — and then goes before City Council. The cost to manufacture these signs will be estimated. If approved by council, the plan will go into the Capital Improvement Program as another project waiting for funding. As there are a total of maybe 50 signs — signs for downtown, the civic center, Loyola Corners and also El Camino, San Antonio and Foothill Expressway — the plan will probably be phased. That means, spending a little money every year to put up another few signs. Maybe the taxpayers won’t take notice of the entire price tag.
As there are a total of maybe 50 signs — signs for downtown, the civic center, Loyola Corners and also El Camino, San Antonio and Foothill Expressway — the plan will probably be phased. That hides the the total cost.
It’ll be nice to have a Welcome sign at this Gateway to Los Altos – But a barn door next to the future Enchante French Hotel! Why not one of those nice granite ones?
Problems with the Plan
- The cost of these signs will be high – wrought iron at the price off gold
- More than one person will find the grey barn doors and other elements unattractive
- These may be hard maintain
- Neighbors will complain about the illumination, the “light pollution”
- The 6 foot by 6 foot signs intended for the civic center seem very large
- The civic center plan is likely to be redone – how will this wayfarer design work with that design?
- We are waiting for a downtown parking management plan. How will these designs work with that? Is it better to have a smart digital sign that shows the number of vacant spaces and their lot location — rather than a dumb parking lot sign?
- The “rustic” wayfarer BLACK wrought iron seems to clash with the BLACK “formal and ornate Tivoli” style light poles and traffic light we just installed at great cost during the downtown streetscape.
EDITORIAL: It’s Mostly Residential Taxpayer Money
If these were more like plain old traffic signs on poles, I could see us residential taxpayers paying for them. After all the City is responsible for maintaining city streets and the city lots. But these are expensive items that primarily benefit the commericial property owners and their tenants by increasing their visitors.
Us residents already know how to get to downtown and where to park — we don’t need signs — these signs are not for our benefit. If the commercial property owners like this design and want to pay for it, I have no objection to the city issuing building permits for the project on that basis. Go ahead commercial neighbors… erect these costly private signs on city land at your own cost. Us homeowners install and maintain landscaping on city land at our cost all the time.
Us residents already know how to get to downtown and where to park — we don’t need signs — these signs are not for our benefit. This is excess.
Los Altos Wayfarer Sign Rustic Materials – barn door look.
