By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Ortonville- During the Monday night regular meeting, village manager Ryan Madis outlined how he would handle the temporary signage in the village moving forward.
“Temporary signage is not a single, thru-line issue,” he said. “There are several facets to it.”
The three types of signage he outlines were the gateway signs, the yard signs, and the yellow signs on M-15 pointing patrons towards the DDA district in downtown Ortonville.
“The gateway signs, we feel those fall under Wayfinding, they’re not a thing we can address quickly or easily,” he said.
He said he felt the signs welcoming people to Ortonville would be something the wayfinding committee could handle along with their other signage and branding projects.
“There’s a lot of yard signs that people use to express all kinds of things,” he said. “Technically, our ordinance says there’s 30 days that those are allowed.”
Madis suggested that over the next few weeks, he could let homeowners know they are in violation of the ordinance and give them options.
“We can begin a process to make those permanent if people want,” he said. “There’s a permit process for that if they want to, they can.”
The third issue, the yellow signs, has been ongoing.
“Those signs were put up in response to COVID to steer people downtown,” he said. “In the meantime, I’d like to see those signs remain in place until we have a better understanding of their effectiveness. At this time I feel they’re not hurting anyone.”
The council approved 6-0 for Madis to handle the signage ordinance in the way he outlined. Council member Keith Dylus was absent with notice.