The mothballed Meadow Gold sign in Tulsa is on the agenda the 1 p.m. Oct. 24 meeting of the Board of Adjustment at City Hall to determine its classification when it is eventually re-erected at Quaker Avenue and 11th Street (aka Route 66), reports the Batesline blog.
Michael Bates, proprietor of Batesline, does a good job in monitoring property and zoning issues — a thankless task, to my reckoning. Anyway, Bates makes this observation:
It’s been a while since I looked at this in detail, but I seem to recall that Tulsa’s zoning code is not friendly to neon, particularly animated neon.
Well, I’m not sure whether the Meadow Gold sign’s neon lighting was ever animated. I do know that Tally’s Good Food Cafe on 11th Street went through tough times in getting its neon sign approved before Randy Chevrier of the Route 66 Business League of Tulsa interceded.
I think it’s good to be vigilant. But given the struggle it was to even dismantle and store the Meadow Gold sign at 11th and Lewis before a certain car dealership had it destroyed — and that the City of Tulsa has made its Route 66 corridor a priority — I’m optimistic that obstacles, if any, will be overcome.
Paul Zachary of the City of Tulsa was at Thursday’s meeting of the Route 66 Business League of Tulsa and if I understood him correctly they are attempting to zone this Route 66 Meadow Gold icon as something other than a sign which would place much fewer restrictions on its placement and trim down the red tape immensely.
The thinking is that this is more of a Route 66 attraction than a sign advertising a going concern.
That’s a point I hadn’t considered. Although there is still a Meadow Gold plant in the city, it has no current involvement with the sign, nor has it for decades. If I understand you correctly, you’re basically saying that the sign is the attraction itself and doesn’t advertise anything else.
So, Randy, is there anything the Route 66 community should do to facilitate this?
Seems to me that the sign, at this point, ought to be classified as a public art exhibit. Are they thinking of doing something along those lines?
It is, after all, a magnificent piece of commercial art. I hope we can get some interpretive materials (a plaque on the side of the support structure or whatever) out there when they put it back up.
I’d also love it if Meadow Gold kicked in a few bucks for the restoration work. Seems like they’d be keen on helping preserve a well-known piece of their history.
The fact that Meadow Gold HAS stayed out of this may be the saving grace in the argument that this is not an advertising sign but a cultural icon.
Although I don’t have a lot of background in this latest chapter in the Meadow Gold sign, I would assume that public input supporting the “attraction” designation of this icon rather than a sign would be a lot of help.
Those with official ties to Route 66 organizations would be especially impressive in showing support for the iconic or commercial art argument. I have it on MY calendar.
Luogo interessante, buon disegno, lo gradisco, signore! =)