Board tables Lindley Park Phase 2 monument sign after historic-district concerns

The Anderson City review board voted to table a proposed monument sign for Lindley Park Phase 2 after an extended discussion with residents and board members who said the sign’s contemporary look did not sufficiently relate to the park’s historic-district character.

Staff explained the new sign is intended to match stonework and some materials used in Phase 2 and to be consistent with other new park signage using corten steel and aluminum lettering. Several residents and board members said Lindley Park functions as one continuous historic park and urged “unity” and “repetition” in signage so both ends of the park read as a single place. Amanda, a board member and neighborhood resident, said: “It is an attractive sign. It will be wonderful probably in other places in town, but this is a historic district.” She and others suggested design changes such as centering the sign, adding pilasters or planters, flattening a curved wall element, or inserting a corten-steel panel to match the new material and lettering.

Staff and multiple board members agreed to ask the design team to: reduce or eliminate a “swoop” curve in the wall, add short columns (pilasters) above the wall cap to balance the wall, and replace the green panel in the existing north-end sign with a corten-steel panel that mimics the proposed Phase 2 lettering and logo. The board made a motion to table the application and requested the design team return with revisions; the motion passed unanimously. The transcript contains no final design or budget commitments and notes that a full duplicate of the original north sign could affect project cost.