Downtown archway signs on planning commission’s plate

The City’s planning commission is reviewing a proposal to up the classy factor in downtown by building two archway signs welcoming people to the historic city.

“Historic Downtown Gilroy,” the dark-colored steel signs will read from their locations on Monterey Street at Fourth and Sixth Streets.

Approved local nonprofits that want to highlight community events can also fasten banners to the bottom of the arch.

The project is expected to cost about $132,500 and will be funded in part by Signature Homes, the developer involved in a project of 60 duplexes west of Monterey Street where Eleventh Street ends, according to Lee Butler, the City’s development center manager. 

But downtown enthusiasts shouldn’t hold their breath for these aesthetic archways, as the “best case scenario” has them completed sometime in the late summer of 2013, pending City Council’s approval.