Mayor's no fan of $100,000 'Welcome to Stouffville' sign

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 6, 2015
By Sandra Bolan

Spending $100,000 on a decorative municipal display sign at Hwy. 404 and Stouffville Road is “a total waste of money,” according to Mayor Justin Altmann.

Currently, Whitchurch-Stouffville only has a “lower tier basic” highway sign at the municipality’s southern limit.

The sign will face northbound Hwy. 404 traffic and be south of Stouffville Road but north of the exit.

“It is the only spot left. But if we still had all the options, I would still choose this one,” Marc Pourvahidi, the town’s CAO told The Sun-Tribune.

Aurora and Newmarket have constructed their municipal entry signs on Whitchurch-Stouffville property at Aurora Road and Mulock Drive respectively.

Whitchurch-Stouffville’s highway exits are Stouffville Road, Bloomington Road, Aurora Road, Mulock Drive and Davis Drive.

But this is not an exit sign. “It’s a destination sign,” Pourvahidi told The Sun-Tribune.

“Maybe people pass by but at least they know there’s a town,” he said.

Town staff presented council with four preliminary options for the eight-foot-by-12-foot sign last month.

Two of the designs that caught the eye of council included silhouettes of a church, clock tower and grain elevator.

“A shout-out to our non-existent grain elevator,” Councillor Hugo Kroon noted.

Kroon, who initiated the sign back in April, said last month it would show “a certain amount of pride in our town” and “tell people Whitchurch-Stouffville is on the map.”

Councillor Ken Ferdinands admitted he was “a little lukewarm” to the idea. The mayor, however, was ice cold to it.

“So we’re going to turn down a food bank in the back (of the municipal building), which is 1,500 square feet and we’re going to build, for $100,000 a sign that is 12 feet by two feet. I have a bit of a problem with it,” he said during the July 28 council meeting.

“I really think $100,000 will go back into the community a lot better,” he said.

Kroon noted he has already spoken to local businesses about helping offset the cost of the sign, which was something Councillor Iain Lovatt was happy to hear.

It also appeared, upon hearing this, Altmann warmed up a little more to the idea, adding fundraising can also help pay for the sign.