Riverside Council discusses welcome sign

The Riverside City Council voted Monday night to purchase land east of town in order to erect a welcome sign on it. The plot of land is 30 feet by 80 feet (2,400 square feet) and will cost $7,000. The land belongs to Larry and Jan Tener, who agreed to pay the surveying fees and all other costs associated with the project. The idea did not sit well with everyone in the audience. Riverside resident Jim Strabala said that $7,000 was too much to pay for such a small piece of land.

During citizens? time, Strabala said, ?An acre of prime farmland would go for $7,000. What we?re talking about here is one-fifteenth of an acre.?

Councilor Kevin Kiene said the land in question is commercial land and not farmland.

?That is prime commercial land, not prime farmland,? Kiene said. ?There is a big difference.?

Jim Leyden, the chairman of Riverside?s Visioning Committee, said the asking price for commercial land there was $40,000 an acre.

?When you come off the ramp of the interstate [from the north], it?s going to be right in front of the ramp so everyone can see it,? Leyden said. ?Two years ago, when we had people coming in for visioning committee, people drove by the (current) sign and didn?t realize it was there. It?s in a bad location.?

Later in the meeting, Leyden and Don Garland of Nesper Sign Advertising Inc. presented the proposed design for the sign. The sign would be lighted using LED lights (light emitting diodes). Garland said the sign would consist of a brick base 7 feet wide and about 12 feet tall, above which would be a screen that could display animated messages in color. The screen would be nearly 2.5 feet tall and just over 9 feet wide. He said it could be used to advertise events in town.

?Whatever message is put on it, people are going to be able to make a decision when they get to the stop sign and say, ?We can turn right here and see what the downtown has to offer,?? Garland said.

Above the screen would be the sign which would read ?Riverside Welcomes You!? That sign would be just over 5 feet tall and 16 feet wide. The words would be white against a black backdrop, with wavy blue lines running horizontally behind the word ?Riverside.? The top of the sign would be 20 feet off the ground.     

Strabala spoke about a few other concerns he had during citizens? time. He said the building at 81 S. Boise St. was ?literally falling apart.?    

?The porch roof is about half caved in,? he said. ?How much longer is that going to go on? I don?t even know if anyone is living there. It looks even worse, relatively speaking, than Schnoebelen Inc.?

Strabala also made a reference to a visit by Jim Rose, a member of St. Mary?s Parish Council, to the council earlier in the year to request $25,000 in hotel/motel tax funds to refurbish St. Mary?s Hall. The request was not approved. Riverside City Attorney Les Lamping sent a memorandum to the council in which he wrote that the state and federal courts would find such financial support violated the ?establishment? clauses of the state and national constitutions.

?At the time that occurred, I believe it was councilman Kiene who said we need to observe the separation of church and state,? Strabala said. ?And it sounded to me like he had a good argument.?

Strabala said that he recently saw a flier titled ?Who is Jesus?? which referred to a religious service Sept. 11 at the Riverside Community Building.

?Why are they holding religious activity in a public building?? Strabala asked. ?Why were they allowed to use the community building for a religious purpose? Isn?t that also a violation of the separation of church and state??

Councilor Todd Yahnke said the religious group that organized the event rented the building.

?So that makes it OK?? Strabala asked.

Yahnke said the city isn?t paying for any of the group?s activities. Mayor Brian McDole said the Riverside Community Building is not owned entirely by the city but also by groups such as the Lions Club.

Councilor Christine Kirkwood said the difference between a religious group renting a public building and the city giving money to a church is that no one is compelled to attend a religious service in a public building.

?When we spend tax dollars, that compels everybody in town whether they want to or not, to support a religious institution,? Kirkwood said.

The council also discussed what to do about speed limit signs on Buckeye Lane near the elementary school. Yahnke there is one sign that reads ?15 mph? but that it is in a place that is hard to see. Several councilors commented that many drivers speed on Buckeye Lane.

Yahnke motioned to purchase two solar-powered signs that display a motorist?s speed as he drives past it. The signs also collect data about the speeds of the vehicles it clocks. The signs would cost approximately $10,000. The council voted 4-1 to purchase the signs. Councilor Ralph Schnoebelen voted against the motion.