By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
Osoyoos town council approved the design of three signs: the park main entry sign, the park information sign, and the park wayfinding markers, to be installed across Osoyoos parks and community spaces.
The designs for these signs are part of an effort to standardize signage within parks and community spaces in Osoyoos with this design to be used in multiple parks and spaces going forward.
A lengthy discussion went through different issues with the design, the timing, the location of the signs, and the uniformity across all parks.
Councilor Myers Bennett articulated the primary concern that preoccupied the council discussion for the most amount of time, that Gyro Park is unique and may require something different.
Park information sign. Contributed photo.
Bennet said “Gyro Park is a key place in our community” and he expressed dissatisfaction at the prospect of seeing this “plain-Jane cement sign” there. His primary point was that this sign may look good in other places but there is a signature sign needed at Gyro.
Jared Brounstein, Director of Operational Services said “I agree wholeheartedly . . . I agree Gyro is a signature park,” noting it may require a more substantial sign.
Councilor Jim King added that not only would he not want this to be approved for Gyro Park, but also the sign at the 85th Street Plaza.
After the dust settled, Councilor Bennet’s motion remained unchanged and lacking a second it failed.
Following this, Councilor Johnny Cheong moved option one that council endorse the design and look of all three signs, with a few small tweaks to the design, such as changing the silver lettering on the gray background to black.
This motion passed three votes to two, Bennett and King both voted against it.
Park wayfinding signs. Contributed photo.
Councilor Bennett’s original idea was to approve the $70,000, but move accepting the design to March 2024. But it came to light that the money was already approved, and council has until March 2024 to spend it, and he was alone in this position.
Mayor Sue McKortoff presented a problem with the location of the signs, but the location of the signs has not been determined yet, council only needed to approve the design and the location of where they will be placed will be determined later on in the process of installing them.
The options for the signs were presented to the Committee of the Whole and received feedback on Feb. 14, 2023 and “the concerns raised by the community were addressed in the revised drawings,” Brounstein said.
Some changes that were made to the signs after this feedback was to use earth tones in the park main entry sign and the information signs, increasing the base heights, and moving the Osoyoos branding to the base of the sign to name just a few.
