A discussion on allowing electronic signs in Brown County has been taken off the agenda of next week’s Brown County Area Plan Commission meeting.
Leaders of the Maple Leaf Performing Arts Center project have decided to table discussion on their request until they can meet with other organizations that also might want electronic signs.
Bruce Gould, a member of the Maple Leaf Management Group, had gone before the Brown County Area Plan Commission in July to ask how members felt about allowing an electronic sign for the new music venue. The APC had planned to discuss the topic at its Aug. 28 meeting.
“We’re going to strategize with (other organizations) on the best way to move forward, a little broader approach,” Gould said at the Aug. 14 management group meeting. “Maybe we’ll be better prepared. For right now, we’re going to table that discussion.”
Though the item was taken off the APC’s agenda, there’s a chance it could still be discussed. “The board may decide to continue discussion this month, at some point in the future or never,” said Planning Director Chris Ritzmann.
The Maple Leaf, a 2,000-seat, government-owned performance venue, is being built off State Road 46 East at the end of a long driveway, and it won’t be visible from the road. In July, Gould suggested to the APC that an electronic sign could give drivers information about upcoming shows quickly, better than a traditional marquee sign. It could be programmed to be dimmed at night, in bad weather, even shut off automatically, he said.
On Aug. 14, resident Heather Nicholson asked the management group to withdraw its request for an electronic sign. Other successful businesses in Nashville, like the Brown County Inn and Big Woods, don’t use electronic signs, she said; signs can be designed to stand out in other ways.
She feared that it would hard to limit the amount of electronic signs in the county if the Maple Leaf gets one. “I’ve already heard people say, ‘Oh boy, I am going to have a sign too. I can make the list because I talked to people,’” she said.
Brown County Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Jane Ellis asked the group to think about what the “real benefit” of listing shows on an electronic sign would bring to the venue “because it is a very touchy subject,” she said. “We have so many different avenues of getting information out. … Who is going to be driving by and seeing that sign and at what time?”
What’s needed in that area are lights that would increase safety, Nicholson said, mentioning the death of a pedestrian last fall near the Hawthorne Drive/46 intersection.
Jim Schultz, who chairs the construction committee, agreed about the need for more stoplights and streetlights. “Streetlights make a big difference in pedestrian safety, so we do need to light that corridor,” he said.
He said the Indiana Department of Transportation is planning for 46 East to have “traffic calming” devices in the area, like a concrete island between the two lanes, so people have a place to pause when crossing on foot. He expects the speed limit to be reduced in the area, too.
What the people say
A post about the electronic sign discussion prompted more than 200 comments on the Brown County Democrat’s Facebook page. The majority were against the concept.
Schultz said people “misinterpreted” the group’s plan for an electronic sign.
“All we really envisioned was a screen up there that was able to take alphanumeric messages, rather than have a slotted board where you stick the plastic letters in, then you’re shining the light up from the ground,” he said.
The Maple Leaf group was not the first entity to inquire about an electronic sign. In May, resident Bernie Weimer had asked the APC about allowing electronic signs for the humane society, Brown County Schools and the Maple Leaf “to assist in communications and “creative a positive development for Brown County and get out of the existence mode.”
On Aug. 2, Brown County Schools Superintendent Laura Hammack said the school board had “mixed views” on whether or not they wanted an electronic sign and that they hadn’t committed to anything.
Schultz said the sign Weimer had showed him had up to four lines of text available and was “100 square feet on each side. Out of that 100 square feet, there was a very small part of it, an electronic part. It was designed to replace that slide-in thing that you stick the letters in every time. That’s what it was,” he said.
Maple Leaf Management Group co-president Barry Herring asked if a compromise could be made if there was no animation used in the sign, like letters flying in or blowing up.
“I think that probably that would help, I suppose … (but) how do you limit it?” Nicholson said.
Gould said there’s been an incorrect perception that electronic signage is similar to billboards on the interstate. “We’ve only had one discussion with the plan commission, and there was never any discussion about making anything bigger than what is already allowed,” he said.
Resident Nancy Crocker encouraged the group to “honor” people’s opinions and not do an electronic sign, and instead maybe hire a local craftsman to make the sign.
“People are constantly looking on their phones. They’re not going to pull in and look at your sign, they’re going to look at their phones,” she said. “Honor the people of the county and listen to what they are saying. … Say, ‘We’ve heard you, and because we heard you, we’re going to make this look good.’”
Schultz said with the amount of traffic on State Road 46, having an electronic sign displaying performance dates and times would give the venue added exposure.
“It’s going to raise the bar on this stature of the place knowing that certain acts are playing there. It will be a faster way for it to be successful, and I think that’s the reason we, as a group, we’re considering it, for exposure,” he said.
What the rules say
County ordinance currently prohibits “animated, electronic, internally lit, edge lighted, neon or other gas-filled, revolving or rotating, strings of light, beams, beacons or flashing signs,” but there are some exceptions.
Ritzmann said in an email Aug. 16 that internally lit signs of two square feet or less are allowed. Most of them are “open” signs, and there are “quite a few” of them, she said. The county recently updated its sign rules to comply with a court ruling that says a community can’t have differing rules for signs based on what they say, so those two-square-foot signs can be of any content.
There’s only one other internally lit sign at a business in the county — at Brownie’s restaurant in Bean Blossom, Ritzmann said. The sign has been there since 1975, so it’s a “preexisting non-conforming use,” she said.
“I am unaware of any others, except for the Dollar General sign, which is that type, but is not allowed to be illuminated,” Ritzmann said. “So long as it remains unlighted, it conforms to the ordinance, practically speaking.”
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Maple Leaf Boulevard, permit issues corrected
Maple Leaf Management Group co-president Barry Herring reported on Aug. 14 that issues with the venue’s driveway have been corrected at no additional expense to the project.
In July, questions existed regarding Maple Leaf Boulevard’s soil compaction and the size of gravel to be used, which could have caused additional costs if it was changed. Herring said Aug. 14 that those issues had been “worked out.”
“Brandt (Construction, the contractor) threw in the extra gravel at their expense and not an expense to the project. That ended up with zero net effect on the budget,” he said.
The management group also received a permit from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources that would allow the moving of excess dirt from the construction site to a flood zone on the property.
Part of the music venue’s 13-acre building site is in a flood zone, and until the DNR permit was received, the construction crew could not place the dirt exactly where it had planned. That permit was received this month.
Kevin Ault said Aug. 9 during a Brown County Convention and Visitors Commission meeting that based on the construction bids that came in, the management group had to change the level of the ground for the venue. The DNR permit application was based on the original ground levels, so that required a change to the permit. Ault serves as co-president of the management group and president of the CVC.
He said that once the foundation and floors are poured, a lot change orders that have been happening with the project will stop. Change orders would be funded by the project’s contingency line. Around $400,000 is in that line for unforeseen issues, Ault said. Herring said the cost to move the dirt twice, since the permit wasn’t available right away, may be less than the $22,000 expected.
Rain delays construction timeline for venue
A rainy summer has resulted in the delay of construction of the Maple Leaf Performing Arts Center.
Maple Leaf Management Group construction chair Jim Schultz reported during the Aug. 15 Brown County Commissioners meeting that despite the rain delays, construction crews are still aiming to hit the deadline in time for it to open next summer.
“It’d be nice if we would have maybe two weeks of reasonable dry weather,” he said.
Schultz said crews will be working on getting the footers in the ground now and that crews were detailing the foundation earlier that day. He said steel was also on site.
“I did drive to the (construction) trailer today. There is gravel on the road and it’s not beautiful, but it’s fairly smooth and that beats parking at the Y and walking in, especially when it’s raining,” he said.
Loan documents give permission for line of credit
The Maple Leaf Building Corporation and Management Group approved resolutions this month amending loan documents to show that the county auditor would not have a role in paying bills during the venue construction process.
In a meeting that lasted a few minutes, the building corporation approved a resolution stating that the “county auditor shall have no role or responsibility in the project fund requisition process.”
The building corporation did not take public comment on the resolution, and read the resolution by title only before approving it.
During a Brown County Convention and Visitors Commission meeting Aug. 9, CVC president Kevin Ault said the resolution the building corporation passed to “change some of the language in the original loan documents that said things were going to run through the auditor.”
“That changed, and so they have to change the wording in the loan documents because everything will be handled through the bank and title company,” he said.
Bills will be handled by the bank and title company during construction of the venue only, Ault said.
“Once we close the construction loan and we’re into regular lending, then the Maple Leaf will have its own checking account to write its own bills out of,” he continued.
Starting this month, the auditor will make interest payments every month, Ault said. “Then once we start making mortgage payments, the auditor would make them,” he said.
Ault said the change was made during the construction process because when paying contractors “you have to do lien releases every time, and then every time you do that you have to change the title work to lower the amount of title liability.”
On Aug. 14, the management group approved a similar resolution.
The resolutions also allow for a line of credit to be created, not to exceed $200,000. It was previously discussed that a second loan would be sought for $200,000 to allow wooden beams made by local company The Beamery to be used in the Maple Leaf’s lobby. Now, the management group has permission to pursue an additional line of credit through the State Bank of Lizton, which loaned the original funds for the project.
Opening a line of credit instead of doing a loan would allow more of the money to actually be used for construction. With a loan, lawyers would have to be paid, said Maple Leaf Management Group co-president Barry Herring.
The Brown County Commissioners and County Council also would have to approve the additional line of credit. “This is just the first step of five or six,” Herring said.
With a line of credit, the management group would only be charged interest on what they pull from the available funds. “If we don’t pull anything the one thing we lost is the loan fee just for the comfort of having it. … It’s strictly we borrow the money, we pay the interest monthly, and in five years, we have to write the check for whatever we pulled. It’s a floating line. We can borrow $100,000 and pay it back. … It’s the comfort of it.”
The management group also has been looking for donations to cover the cost of the beams. If donation money comes through, then that credit would not have to be spent, Herring said.
Payments would be due monthly, and they would come from either ticket sale revenue or the innkeepers tax, which has been pledged as a backup source to pay the venue’s mortgage payments.
The management group will also have to vote on pulling money from the credit line.
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