OLDS — There is such a thing as too many signs when it comes to Town of Olds spending, according to councillor Heather Ryan.
During deliberation on this year’s capital budget, Ryan questioned why the municipality had planned to spend money on a sign for the administrative building when a sign denoting the building already exists. She said the wayfinding sign already in place looks “beautiful.”
Protective services director Justin Andrew said that’s because the Town of Olds land use bylaw requires buildings to have numbers on them.
“It can’t be on the side, though. It has to be on the building and so that’s a land use bylaw piece. And it’s to do with setbacks and that with a building from the roadway,” he said. “I can’t speak to the history of it. I just know that’s in there currently.”
Mayor Judy Dahl agreed with Ryan.
“I asked the question as well, because I noticed right away that the wayfinding sign had the address on it. But I understand now why,” she said.
When the capital budget came up for further discussion on April 11, interim chief administrative officer and finance director Sheena Linderman said such signage for the administration building and the town’s operations centre had been removed from that budget, part of $67,000 worth of deletions from the $6.6 million 2022 capital budget.