Resident Pursues Redesigning Borough Building Sign

Dormont Historical Society is pleased with the new sign in front of the municipal center, but a neighbor believes it is an eyesore and has appealed to council to improve the sign.

At the July 1 Dormont Council meeting, residents on both sides of the issue had a chance to speak. Muriel Moreland, president of Dormont Historical Society, defended the sign.

“We need a place to advertise very publicly,” Moreland said. “We need a sign that will tell people the borough has a historical society, and one which we’re very proud of.”

Moreland said the society began talking about getting a sign two years ago as a way to advertise the its location, hours, and events.

The society plans to pay a significant portion of the sign’s cost. The exact amount it would pay was not immediately known, and as of July 1, Moreland said the organization had not paid because it had not received a bill.

Since the sign went up in May, one side has been used to advertise the historical society, and the other to advertise borough announcements.

No one has publicly objected to the idea of the sign, but not everyone is happy with the outcome.

In May, resident Greg Langel, who lives on Hillsdale Avenue near the municipal center, told council he would have liked more community involvement in designing and placing the sign.

He said the sign doesn’t match the architecture of the building, and that he thinks it devalues the property. 

“This sign is appropriate for a convenience store. It is not appropriate for a historical building in a residential neighborhood,” Langel said during the July 1 meeting.

Langel said he felt that the size of the sign and the materials used to build it are not appropriate for the style of the building.

In May, Langel, members of the historical society and members of council met to discuss options for improving the sign. Langel said he left that discussion under the impression that construction on a new sign would begin.

Moreland said a sign in any other location would be useless to the historical society, and would defeat the purpose of building the sign in the first place.

Council president Bill McCartney said the sign was placed legally in front of the building, and is not in violation of any code enforcement or zoning laws. The only issue, he said, is that it’s not very attractive.

McCartney said discussion about how to make the sign more attractive would continue.

Editor's note (July 9, 8:18 a.m.): Per an email from Greg Langel to Dormont-Brookline Patch, Langel is not concerned with moving the sign, but simply wants another sign constructed in the same location. References to moving the sign have been removed from this article.