Building committee narrows monument-sign concept for new Middletown middle–high school

Architect Matt presented two concept views of the monument sign proposed for the new Middletown middle–high school. Committee members spent more than an hour discussing proportions, logo placement and a wavy top motif introduced after earlier feedback.

Matt (architect) said the revised concept introduced “the wavy top,” and showed a three-dimensional view of the sign; members responded with detailed visual preferences. Donna Sweet (represented by Jerry Huss) and several committee members repeatedly said they preferred the left concept for its wave character but objected to the logo’s current placement where it looked, in several members’ words, like “the eye of a duck.”

Tom Welch, town council vice president and building-committee member, suggested enlarging the word Middletown across the sign and moving the logo above it to use the sign’s full width. Tammy Holden and others pressed for Middletown to “be as big as possible across the whole length of the sign.” Several members asked the architect to present merged refinements — enlarging the Middletown wordmark, keeping the preferred wave top, and testing logo placements — and bring two revised proposals to the next meeting.

Committee members also discussed sign height and blank space, and agreed that final shop drawings could include small visual tweaks. The committee voted to ask the architect to refine the two proposals and return with updated artwork and dimensions for approval at the next meeting. Members said the decision on design will not delay the RTA/signage award because the contract includes an allowance for the monument sign.

Direct quotes used in this article are from the meeting record and attributed to speakers who appear in the transcript.