Council allows large sign for GE factory
Welland will allow GE to install a 3.66-by-3.66-metre sign on its Brilliant Factory after amending its sign bylaw at a special meeting Friday afternoon.
“It was a bit of a time-sensitive issue. GE wanted to order its sign and make sure there were no issues,” said Mayor Frank Campion of the special council meeting.
Campion said council had no issues with an amendment to the bylaw to allow for the larger sign to go on the building at 200 Buchner Rd.
“The sign is larger than what is typically allowed under our sign bylaw. However, when the bylaw was put in place it was never contemplated there would be a building that big to put a sign on. It’s a 500,000-square-foot building. When you look at the sign on the building it won’t look disproportionate.
Campion said the sign will be facing Highway 140 once installed on the plant, which is expected to open sometime this year and employ some 220 people
Construction on the multimodal manufacturing plant, on the west side of Highway 140 between Buchner Road and Silverthorn Street, began in 2016 and led to
the creation of turning lanes on the highway in 2017 to accommodate future traffic from the facility.
The mayor said the amendment easily passed all three readings at Friday’s meeting, notice of which was given 24 hours before it was held.
Campion said special council meetings such as Friday’s happen fairly often and that if someone wanted to challenge the report and amendment brought forward, they had plenty of time to do so.
“The opportunity was there … it was not done in closed session, procedure was followed.”
The mayor said GE’s Brilliant Factory is an important investment in the community and council wanted to make sure things were dealt with quickly.