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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-09-16, Page 22Page 22 - Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, September 16, 2009 I saw the sign, but only because I was at the meeting Gerard Crimes signal -star staff You wouldn't know it for lack of signage, but the writing is definitely on the wall for the Goderich Harbour Restaurant - you want to advertise, buy a radio slot. After a year and a half of committee meetings, concessions, removals, re- placements and cat -and -mouse tactics, council has finally and completely de- nied signage for the Goderich Harbour Restaurant at the top of North Harbour Road. Because you're the type to save a life... Goderich Blood Donor Clinic Wednesday, September 23 Knights of Columbus Hall, 390 Parsons Court, Goderich, ON 1:30 pm - 9:00 pm Within days, Goderich and area donations will improve or save the lives of over 600 Canadians. Patients across our country are counting on YOUR support. 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R. 4, Goderich 524-2181 ONER FUNERAL HOMES LTD ��Biuetaa�ter C �acpel—1 201 Suncoast Drive East Goderich 524-1221 Why? Because the rules state com- mercial signs can't be placed in a pub- lic park... or road median... or near a monument... or basically anywhere near where the res- taurant needs to identify its loca- tion. Creces After splitting every possible hair they could over the matter, council gave the big thumbs - down to allowing the sign. Mayor Deb Shewfelt was right when he said the town is sending an anti - business message with the act, cau- tioning council before voting on the issue. "I have a hard time with this," he admonished council. "If she had that business two blocks off The Square she could have that sandwich board." After all, this is a sign no bigger than 2'x3' sitting on an empty median atop North Harbour Road. It does happen to be adjacent to the Samuel Platt Park, and, when viewed directly from the front, can block a view of Goderich's labour memorial for about half a block. (Yes, Goderich, we have a labour memorial and a Samuel Platt Park.) It makes one think... What would all those fallen workers like more? Would the labourers of yesteryear give up a small portion of their visibil- ity from the highway for a place that has served countless workers 'the best fish and chips on the west coast' for decades? My guess is they would support any- one who still has a job these days and works hard to keep it. What is most disappointing is that restaurant owner Vonnie Haner has been incredibly flexible in the ordeal, listening to council's recommenda- tions and trying everything she could to make the sign and the layout of the land work. This is a woman who agreed to put her sign up at open, take it down at close, redesign it, add foliage, take it down for special events like Com- munities in Bloom and generally do whatever else it took just to let people at the top of the hill know that the res- taurant is at the bottom. Surely a temporary exemption can be granted while the signage com- mittee decides which nits need to be picked in order to come to an amicable solution. But last Monday, that possibility died on the council table. Deputy -Mayor John Grace suggested erecting a single sign that could have the Town of Goderich, Sifto, Goderich Harbour Restaurant and the Maitland Country Club all featured on it. It's not a bad idea, but can a strug- gling restaurant chip in the kind of money the world's largest salt mine can on a sign? Probably not. Since removing the sandwich board at the top of the hill, Haner said busi- ness has gone the opposite way, citing a 32 per cent drop over July and "a dramatic loss" over August. You can't see the restaurant from the highway the same way you can see the mine or the golf course at Maitland. There is a real and disastrous disad- vantage being faced by Haner and the Goderich Harbour Restaurant. The danger for opponents of the sign is this temporary allowance could lead to more exemptions from like -busi- nesses. However, Goderich Harbour Res- taurant is in a unique situation in this town; it doesn't have the main beach to draw people down and other than truckers and miners, nobody needs to go past it. Judy Crawford, CAO of the Cham- ber of Commerce, said "It would be great to have the feeling business is important in Goderich." She may be waiting a little while longer. The town rents the land to the res- taurant, and the town owns the land where the signage would go. They are shooting themselves in the foot by killing revenues for a tenant who has. been nothing but cooperative through- out the whole process. Speaking on behalf of Haner, former Stratford politician Cheryl Ruby told council they are changing the rules mid -game. "You are the landlord," she said. "This is like a lease being agreed to and then turning off the heat" Councillors Grace and Lyons said numerous times 'we want to work with you' during the meeting and twenty minutes later, both voted against the temporary exemption. Included with them were Councillors Eglie, Mur- dock and Yates. The only proponents of the sign were Shewfelt and Coun. Ray Hurd, whose disappointment was palpable follow- ing the 5-2 recorded vote. "It is not meant to demean a plaque or debeautify a park," Hurd said in his plea for the unsuccessful motion. "I'm in that vein that wants to help out a business that needs it." In following the letter of the law to its utmost, council has not only wasted a year and a half's worth of meetings that could have been spent on some- thing else, but has set an ominous tone for business relations in town. Worse still, a struggling business has been denied the privelege of let- ting customers know it exists. The saying goes, you can't fight city hall. In this case, however, you can't even work with them. Just ask Vonnie Haner.