Planning Commission Approves Design For Gateway Arch

After almost a year of planning a gateway arch has been approved by the Planning Commission and will be placed next to an LED sign, in an effort to bring more visitors to the Village Center.

The commission voted 5-1 Wednesday night to send the Village Board a recommendation for approval of the design; Commissioner Bernard G. Schroedl voting against it.

The arch will be placed on Northway and Grange Avenue next to the new LED sign.

Staff came back with two more rounded designs.

The recommended arch will have the brick piers from the second design (see attached PDFs) and square posts from the first design. The brick will match the brick on the LED sign, and plaques will be placed on the front of the piers reading est. 1938. The commission could not decide on what the back of the sign will read and it will remain blank for the time being.

Grandhaven, LLC, property owners of the Village Center, will pay up to $75,000 for the arch. The Village of Greendale will take care of the remaining costs.

Schroedl objected to the arch because he said that the LED sign should have been reviewed with the arch. He also said having two signs with the same purpose next to each other was a waste of money.

“What we have to do is have the business people in the Village advertise and stay open long hours than what they are staying open,” said Schroedl. “That’s what brings people down.  Not an archway. Not an LED sign. None of that. It has to be their responsibility as business people… they have to be the ones to advertise and spend their money. Not taxpayer money.”

Commissioners Barbara Myers and Jane Kerwin also expressed objection to the already built LED sign, but supported the arch gateway. Both believe the arch is needed to bring people in.

Village President John Hermes, who from the beginning was against the LED sign, said the LED sign was water under the bridge. Hermes said it was the commission’s job to approve the "best possible archway we can live with for the next 100 years.”

, said Village Manager Todd Michaels. Around the same time staff proposed the  Instead some trustees thought it would be better to place the LED sign on the intersection of Northway and Grange Avenue. The LED sign was then approved in March without approval of the gateway arch or referring it to the Planning Commission.

The Village Board will review the arch on July 17.