There will be a new light shone on the entrance to Penetanguishene, and council chose what it would look like last night.
At the regular meeting of council, residents were able to look at the chosen design by Lafontaine Iron Werks, depicting the welcoming words to Penetanguishene on a white banner over the town’s iconic blue tall ship logo.
“The gateway project was something that was started back in 2018, quite some time ago,” explained Sherry Desjardins, the town's recreation and community services director.
“The consultation point was the heritage committee, given that the angels have heritage designation. Council gave us direction to redesign and rethink the town gateway.”
An open house was announced in April of 2018 inviting the public to provide input to the project, including the possible relocation of the town sign and the angels. A week later, additional public input was requested by the town on the subject.
As the Main Street Reconstruction project reached its end, a federal Legacy Grant delayed completion by a year as well as further delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The town submitted requests for proposal to five companies over three years on what the town sign would look like, but only heard back from Lafontaine Iron Werks who submitted several options that the heritage committee looked at.
Council asked if there were any comments from the audience regarding the sign, and three residents expressed disappointment that they weren’t aware of the decisions made in 2018 about the angel relocations to the municipal boundary, a choice made by the heritage committee.
“When we consulted with the heritage committee of the day,” said Desjardins, “they said what makes them (the angels) significant is that sense of arrival to the town of Penetanguishene. They said: let’s re-establish that and move them to the true municipal border because they’ve been lost in the build-up of the town over time.”
Coun. Doug Leroux, who served as mayor during the previous term, verified that the heritage committee was involved with the unanimous decision for the staff recommended option of white banner over blue ship logo.
As council voted to approve the recommendation, Coun. George Vadeboncoeur expressed his appreciation for the choice.
“I think it’s a very attractive sign and I think it’ll be a nice feature at the entrance to town,” said Vadeboncoeur.
The cost of the new sign was identified as $32,370 plus HST, with an additional $6,000 to $10,000 for a support base.
Due to the federal grant, an unveiling of the new gateway is anticipated for Franco-Ontarian Day to be held on Sept. 25.
The chosen sign for the town can be located as the museum and heritage committee and staff recommendation in the council agenda page of the Town of Penetanguishene website.
Meetings of Penetanguishene council are held on the second Wednesday of each month, and can be watched live on Rogers TV cable 53, or on the Rogers TV website.
Archives of council meetings are located on the Town of Penetanguishene YouTube channel.
