Working to design signs

By Erin Mayes

The Redevelopment Agency and the Downtown Business Association will be working together to figure out how to design proposed monuments for the downtown area that will please both parties.

Campbell City Council members, operating as the Redevelopment Agency, were surprised Sept. 4 to discover there was some dissension among association members about the monuments.

The proposed project would enhance the existing monument signs at the gateways to downtown Campbell.

Association member Lloyd Taylor, who owns In The Cup, a golf store, told agency members that he voiced his concerns with Redevelopment Manager Kirk Heinrichs who brought the item before the association. Taylor said his main concern is that the new signs are not large enough to hold banners with large lettering.

The proposed monuments, which will read "Campbell Historic Downtown" in wrought iron lettering, will be designed to display banners advertising events in Campbell.

Taylor said the proposed design is "virtually useless for any advertisement or program," and called it a "major fill-time project."

Rather than spend money on the monuments, Taylor proposed returning the white Christmas lights to the trees that line Campbell Avenue in the downtown area. The lights were removed to save energy costs.

"This project needs to go back to square one and be reevaluated," Taylor said.

Council member Jeanette Watson and Mayor Matthew Dean said they were disappointed that Taylor hadn't voiced his concerns to the agency earlier.

As far as the monuments being a "fill-time project," Dean said, "There's a whole different spectrum of opinions of what is and isn't wasting money. I don't think this is vanity for the city. I find it to be a functional piece of art."

The agency requested that Heinrichs work with the association to figure out a size that will work for both sides.

For his part, Heinrichs said he believes the current design will allow for a visible banner size.

About 3,000 cars travel past the gateways to the downtown area on a daily basis.

In other city council news, members authorized spending $23,950 in Community Development Block Grant Funds for the rehabilitation of the Pollard Senior Group Home, 2011 Pollard Ave. The 2,015-square-foot home was acquired by the Redevelopment Agency in May from Santa Clara County Roads and Airports for $450,000. The city's intended use of the building was to house very low-income and low-income seniors. The deed to the house was given to Project Match, which has been acquiring the funds necessary to rehabilitate the home. Project Match is a nonprofit organization that assists seniors in finding housing.

Council members also entered into an agreement with the Campbell Union School District to provide a parent and child program to promote English language skills and other services.

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