2022-09-06 CC Agenda - Public Communication related to Item #D12 - Monument Sign2022-09-06 CC AGENDA PACKET
PUBLIC COMMUNICATION RELATED TO ITEM D12 - MONUMENT SIGN
Harada, Patricia
From: Weaver, Tracy (City Clerk)
Sent: Tuesday, September 6, 2022 10:43 AM
To: *ALL CITY CLERKS
Subject: Fwd: City Council Meeting Sept. 20th
Attachments: To All City Council.docx
Council received email below. However, I believe this item is up for discussion tonight.
—Tracy
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Stolnack, Julie" <jstolnack@elsegundoccb.org>
Date: September 6, 2022 at 10:09:56 AM PDT
To: "Weaver, Tracy (City Clerk)" <tweaver@elsegundo.org>, "Boyles,Drew (Mayor)"
<dboyles@elsegundo.org>, "Nicol, Scot (Council Member)" <snicol@elsegundo.org>, "Pimentel, Chris
(Mayor Pro Tem)" <cpimentel@elsegundo.org>, "Pirsztuk, Carol (Council Member)"
<cpirsztuk@elsegundo.org>, "Giroux, Lance (Council Member)" <Igiroux@elsegundo.org>
Subject: City Council Meeting Sept. 20th
Please see the attached letter.
Thank you,
Julie Stolnack
To All City Council,
I am writing to you to address your upcoming discussion and vote at the next City Council meeting on
September 20th regarding the new Gateway Monument Sign as I will be unable to attend in person due
to being out of the country on vacation.
As you may know I sat on the Gateway Subcommittee for nearly two years representing the Recreation
and Parks Commission. In my previous life I had owned a small sign company for 20 years, so I have a bit
of background to pull from here. Originally, we were given a budget of $150,000 which I felt and stated
at the time was going to fall a bit short by approximately $50,000 in my opinion to properly place an
entryway sign at that intersection. In just a couple of subcommittee meetings, the scope of this project
went sideways, it was no longer a gateway or entryway sign, it was now becoming a destination place,
and this possible project was projected to cost upwards of $450,000. At this time, I voiced my
dissatisfaction at the subcommittee meetings as well as at a few Recreation and Parks Commission
meetings during subcommittee updates. I felt spending $450,000 on a project like this would be fiscally
irresponsible and personally did not want to be associated with moving forward or approving this
project as proposed by the selected design team.
In my opinion, this gateway just needs to be a nice -looking, inviting entryway sign with nighttime
lighting and all new landscaping. Something like we have at Rosecrans and PCH, but maybe more design
elements to it. I have looked over the two proposed design options as well as the cost estimates and
still feel the expense of both is just too much to spend on a project like this, especially when we have so
many other projects that have been put aside due to lack of funding, i.e., the Plunge, Teen Center, etc.,
projects that truly benefit our community.
As far as the two proposed designs that have been submitted, I feel Design One is just too massive in
size. A solid wall of concrete and steel at 10' x 54' coming out of the ground and running across that
area I feel will just be so overbearing. You can look at the renderings they have provided and that helps
somewhat, but I would erect a full-size mock-up on site first before moving forward to get a true feeling
for the size. Not some fully engineered structure, just a quick and dirty mock-up, let's take a quick look
at the scale of this thing on this site. Design Two is more in line with what would fit this area, the scale is
better, maybe still a bit too large, and I think more landscaping needs to be added to create more of a
background for better readability and to cutout what sits in the background. Personally, I do not care
for the surfboard, nor do I care for the "Greetings from" moniker.
Lastly, I am wondering if the Gateway Subcommittee is being completely eliminated from the process
now. It was our understanding when Scott Mitnick got involved, he would be coming back to us along
the way for the subcommittee to see the progress. Needless to say, this has not happened. In fact, I
contacted him after about 6 months with a list of questions on the project progress.
At this time, I urge you to please not jump on either of these proposed designs just so we can have a
new entryway sign in place because believe me it will be there for the next 50 years, at least and please,
please take a hard look at the numbers to see if we really need to spend $450,000 on an entryway sign.
Sincerely,
Julie D. Stolnack
Recreation and Parks Commissioner