After driving past a sampling of the recently erected Squamish boundary and wayfaring signs my first thought was “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
That being said, as we all know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder; some observers will come away with a more positive impression.
Still, even if we use functionality as a measuring tool the new installations come up short.
While ample dollars and cents were tossed at these creations, what’s missing is common sense. The sign beside the southbound lane of Highway 99 indicating where visitors can find downtown Squamish is located a considerable distance from the Cleveland Avenue turnoff.
But that’s not the biggest problem.
In the truest sense of a bush league operation, an arrow points into the woods adjacent to the highway. How about displaying a simple, clear message that tells drivers they can access the centre of town by turning right at the next intersection located 200 metres down the road? Somebody should inform District officials this is the information age not the guess-what’s-up-ahead era.
Meanwhile, the wayfaring instructions on Cleveland Avenue are affixed to attractive wood and concrete structures.
Unfortunately, half the artistically crafted woodwork is obscured by the tacky metal signs. Plus, our much ballyhooed “Hardwired for Adventure” tagline is nowhere to be found on any of those installations, or on their counterparts on the highway.
All in all, when it comes to signage this town appears to be getting snookered, especially if council’s recent flip-flop regarding the proposed 18 metre faux water tower-themed sign in the Industrial Park is added to the above discussion. During the July 25th council meeting that project got kyboshed because the regulations for the area stipulate a maximum height of just over 10 meters.
Two weeks later, after some backroom negotiations and a presentation from the company hired to build it, the fixture was miraculously approved.
Irate Squamish resident Colin Green lit up The Chief’s online comments page after he heard about the reversal. “What is the point in having bylaws and an OCP if they’re simply going to grant a variance when someone asks for it? The council is rarely informed on the history it has inherited and the repercussions their decisions have on businesses,” he wrote. And Matthew Safran, who posted on social media, figured the tower “will look as out-of-place as a Haida orca sculpture in Saskatchewan.”
Back in 2015 our newly minted mayor told The Chief it was time to take a fresh look at how we welcome people to Squamish.
Signage should be something “that really speaks to our uniqueness as a community” and public art should cultivate “a more dynamic, culturally relevant and connected community while igniting conversation and provoking discourse at the intersection of the past and future…the stuff money can’t buy,” she said.
Well folks, let’s fire up those conversations.
