Illinois Valley Times

The city of Peru Design and Review Committee met Aug. 24 discuss color of downtown awnings.

Here are the meeting's minutes, as provided by the city:

DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE

MEETING MINUTES

DATE OF MEETING: Wednesday, August 24, 2016 TIME: 5:30 p.m.

PLACE OF MEETING: Peru Municipal Building

1901 4th Street, Peru, IL 61354

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Paul Basalay, Doug Biederstedt, Kris Giese, Mark Lucas,

Mike Debo, Matt Lamps, and Building Inspector Jeff King. ABSENT: Mayor Scott Harl and Bob

Johnson.

OTHERS PRESENT: Becky Dall with Dimond Brother’s Insurance, Gene Anderson with Designs &

Signs by Anderson, Renee Birkenbeuel and Jon Birkenbeuel with Innovative Staff Solutions, and

Ashley Kostos.

Chairman Paul Basalay called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

MINUTES:

Doug Biederstedt made a motion to approve the minutes of the July 27, 2016 Design Review Committee

Meeting. Mike Debo seconded the motion. All in favor; motion carried.

NEW BUSINESS:

Dimond Brothers Insurance

Becky Dall explained Dimond Brothers Insurance would like to replace both awnings, one in the front

and one in the back, with blue awnings; blue is their agency color and they wish to remain consistent

with branding. She knows that it is not the preferred color, but she is asking for allowance to do so. They

plan to make it a hub for the northern region with the size and location of this building. They also plan to

have meetings and trainings here. Paul Basalay asked if anyone had questions or comments for Dimond

Brothers. Doug Biederstedt asked if the reason they wanted blue was because it is the corporate color.

Becky Dall responded that they are recognized by their color and would like to keep it consistent

through all of their offices.

Paul Basalay said this is important because the original color of the existing awning was based on the

color selected for the buildings. He stated he doesn’t particularly want this group to be the color police

in terms of saying it all has to be the same, and they may set up some guidelines or rules for what we do.

He also said the awnings are not touching or adjacent to any other awnings, they are kind of on the end

of the area. Paul Basalay said red is also present downtown and we have made some deviations; Ace

Hardware’s awning is red. He stated he personally does not see a problem because it is not immediately

adjacent to other awnings there.

Doug Biederstedt stated that Debo’s Ace Hardware is to the West with red, which is similar to

burgundy. Also, the buildings across the street from Maud Powell courtyard are similar. Doug

Biederstedt said this is the first time that he is seeing the blue in the plans. He does not agree with the

color. Becky Dall stated they have these colors awnings in other cities, like Ladd and Cherry, and they

are nice awnings. Paul Basalay said it is not a problem with the awning; the downtown area was the area

that was established to be that color.

Paul Basalay asked if there is anyway it can be done in burgundy with the emblem in the burgundy or a

white circle with blue logo designed into it. Gene Anderson said he doesn’t think burgundy and blue

would look good together. Paul Basalay suggested white or something to separate it. Gene Anderson

said it is their branding; if McDonald’s came in and wanted to have their red awnings he is sure they

would go ahead with their red awnings. Becky Dall stated she has seen the hospital, and even though

they are not on the strip, they have blue awnings. Paul Basalay said that is exactly it; if they were a

separate building it would be different. He said if McDonald’s were to come down town they would

probably be in a separate building. Gene Anderson stated their recognition comes from logos in their

color so that people can recognize them; some other color is not as recognizable. He went on further to

say that is something small businesses need: to be recognized and they need everything they can get to

be successful. Paul Basalay said he agrees with that and there are ways you can do both. He said if the

awning had to be burgundy there are other ways to show the symbol, like on a flag, something other

than on the awning.

Becky Dall asked if they have to have an awning. Paul Basalay responded no. Becky Dall asked if it’s

possible to have no awning on the front and a blue one on the back, since the rear isn’t actually facing

4th St. Paul Basalay said the one on the back didn’t bother him as much because it’s the image on the

street when you are driving down and how it was set up to be. He does not have a problem with the blue

in the back. Mark Lucas said it didn’t bother him, but what he was thinking was the one on the front:

they would have to look to the future and having other people wanting a bunch of different colors and he

personally didn’t want to have a bunch of different colors on 4th St. Gene Anderson asked if there is a

restriction on the percentage of burgundy that has to be on the awning. Paul Basalay said it basically

needs enough that it looks appropriate for the downtown and that’s why he was wondering if it couldn’t

be more of a burgundy awning with a circle of blue or something with the logo.

Doug Biederstedt proposed making the Dimond larger. Paul Basalay pointed to the plans and said it

might be more difficult but suggested if an area was blue and the rest of it burgundy and a white band to

separate the blue from the burgundy so it didn’t have the blue clashing with the burgundy. He said if it

was just a blue sign on a burgundy awning, more or less. Becky Dall said she did not think it would

show up. Paul Basalay explained more about using their sign on a white background and having the

burgundy around it as a box. He said he doesn’t know how it would look or if it would be great. Becky

Dall said she would have to see. Paul Basalay said that’s the kind of thing he was wondering, to find a

way for her to still keep her colors and signage because this is really their sign and symbol. Becky Dall

stated that blue is their agency color and goes with their branding. Paul Basalay said the blue doesn’t

really go with the green windows it’s not so bad with the red; in terms if it was burgundy it may help out

in other places and the clash may come from blue and burgundy signs rather than blue and green. He

stated he doesn’t have a problem with it on the back. Paul Basalay asked if Doug Biederstedt had a

problem with it on the back. Doug Biederstedt responded he could probably live with it, do I have a

problem with it probably yea, but I would like to see it uniform throughout our downtown area. Paul

Basalay said the back isn’t really visible when you are driving down the street and there are no other

awnings back there. Debo’s Ace Hardware does have a small awning on the back of their building.

Gene Anderson asked what the preferred colors are. Paul Basalay explained the downtown development

had standards set up that all buildings had to basically be in the brown or reddish earth tones of brick,

maroon for the awnings, and it spelled out a lot of other things in terms of the consistent look. This

building followed that, the building next door followed that. Doug Biederstedt added that another

building follows it. Becky Dall said those businesses probably didn’t have a color per say that they were

trying to stay with. Doug Biederstedt said they were given guidelines and they had to follow those. Paul

Basalay said the city actually had a firm come in and do a study to make recommendations and

proposals on what colors should be used and they adopted those and it was to get a consistent look. He

said if it wasn’t the immediate downtown area he would have less of an issue with it because he doesn’t

think everything you see for five miles should be brown and burgundy, but in the downtown area for

some consistency it is important if they’re not those colors they need to be complimentary to them so

they don’t stand out as something completely different.

Mark Lucas asked if there is a possibility of doing something in one of the windows in the front. Becky

Dall said there is a chance to put a sign in there. Doug Biederstedt said they are going to have the name

on the front of the building which is probably going to stand out quite a bit. Becky Dall said they have

actually removed the decals that were on the front window. There was discussion on the size of the sign.

Jeff King said it is 427.2 square feet. Doug Biederstedt said on the front he can’t buy it (the blue

awning) and he is going to have to vote no.

Paul Basalay said he basically wanted to go through this discussion first because he thinks this is going

to be pertinent to other downtown businesses. Gene Anderson asked if everybody downtown has the

burgundy awnings. Paul Basalay responded that Debo’s had come in and went through the same process

and asked for red, and because it was in the burgundy family it was basically approved; it was a similar

situation where red is their logo. He continued that if this was a color that was somewhat sympathetic to

it, he thought it would be less of an issue. Gene Anderson asked what color a particular building

downtown is. Some responded that it was a burgundy-ish that has probably faded out now. Doug

Biederstedt said that Olivero’s came in and had to do burgundy with their building and the dental shop.

Paul Basalay said he thinks if they wanted to do red since Debo’s is already red, they could do red.

Becky Dall responded they won’t do red. She added they will probably just not have an awning. Paul

Basalay asked if she would want to apply for just the awning on the rear. Becky Dall responded yes.

Paul Basalay suggested going around the table and ask about no awning in front and a blue awning in

back, is it acceptable. Matt Lamps responded it was ok. Kris Giese said he actually doesn’t mind either

one, he believes that once they approved Debo’s with corporate colors they opened up the door for other

colors. Jeff King said he agrees with Kris. Mark Lucas said he would just prefer the one on back and

just have their sign on the front. Mike Debo responded the awning on back would look good. Doug

Biederstedt said he thinks they should stay with burgundy all the way.

Paul Basalay said it is up to Becky Dall to decide what she is willing to submit. Doug Biederstedt said

he thinks we need a motion. Paul Basalay said he would like to hear what they would propose. Doug

Biederstedt said he would like to still see an awning across the front. Paul Basalay asked Becky Dall if

she would like to stay as submitted. Becky Dall asked if she were to stay as submitted, and everybody

were to deny it all, then she would have nothing. Someone answered “probably”. It was said they have

not made a motion yet. She asked if Dimond Brothers could negotiate. She said if DRC was not going to

go along with the front blue awning, will they go along with the awning on the back and the logo the on

front door along with their sign at the top. She clarified there would be no awning in the front.

She then asked if they need permission to put the logo on door. She said they can decide later if they

want to put that on the door. Paul Basalay and Jeff King said as long as it meets the sign requirements.

Jeff King added so far everything does. She said they would go forward with the signs that are shown in

the photos, no awning on the front, and the blue awning on the back; this is what is acceptable for her.

Gene Anderson asked if what she says gets refused, is it all dead? Gene said he was not quite

understanding all of this. Jeff King explained we are just talking about the awnings, the signs are fine.

Paul Basalay explained the only reason she was there is because she wants to do something different

than burgundy.

Doug Biederstedt and Paul Basalay explained how the voting would work; majority rule and there were

seven present to vote. Becky Dall stated that if she understood correctly they are not accepting what they

are proposing. It was suggested to keep the existing awning there. Becky Dall responded they chose not

to do that; it is dirty and needs to come down, and still says Jackson Kahl Center. She said they will

probably just take that down totally and put the new one on the back and talk about whether they will

put the decal on the front door or not.

Paul Basalay asked if everyone understood that they are requesting the blue awning in the back and no

awning on front. Doug Biederstedt asked if we can have two motions and said he thinks the awning on

the front should stay as is. He said they had a theme going through our downtown and paid lots of

dollars for the St. Louis firm to come up here and re-design and that’s why all these buildings were done

this way. He thought they needed to stay with it. He continued that they had made a small exception

with Mr. Debo to go a little bit off the burgundy with the red because of corporate colors.

Jeff King asked if there is anything on the burgundy awning now. It was answered yes, Jackson Kahl

Center. Jeff King added that it would have to be re-done no matter what then. Becky Dall then asked for

clarification, do they think she should have to put up a burgundy awning instead of no awning. Doug

Biederstedt responded yes. Paul Basalay added that would look the best. There was further discussion

about the awnings and the signage, similar to the discussion that has been taking place thus far. Paul

Basalay added it would look nicer with an awning on front rather than no awning. Doug Biederstedt said

it would be a dead kill if the name was on the sign on the building, as well as the awning. Becky Dall

said she doesn’t understand why one person said she has to have an awning and the other says she does

not. Doug Biederstedt said it was a matter of opinion. Becky Dall wanted to clarify it was a matter of

opinion and there was nothing in writing that said she had to have one. Paul Basalay asked who owns

the awning and stated the City does not own it. Doug Biederstedt said the property owner does. Becky

Dall mentioned awnings are not cheap. Paul Basalay said the burgundy awning with the signage up

above and the blue awning in the back, in terms of what their job is, is the right way to do it. There was

again more discussion about the signage on the back with the awning and how it all fits into the look

downtown.

Kris Giese said City Council would have final say. Paul Basalay said basically how it works is if she

agreed with the Design Review Committee than she would be free to go, but if she disagreed with them

than she could take the petition to the City Council and they can over-rule the DRC. Becky Dall asked

how that has gone in the past. Paul Basalay responded that nobody has ever tried it. Becky Dall and

Gene Anderson asked about if it would cost another fee. Paul Basalay said it would have to get on the

agenda and they would have to go to the City Council meeting. He added that the DRC’s job is to

basically give them the opinion of what they feel is going to look the best. Becky Dall asked if she had

to give an answer tonight. Paul Basalay responded that if they wanted a decision from them tonight it

would be based on what was submitted. Becky Dall said if they were definitely saying okay, she has the

option of putting a burgundy awning on the front or not, and just the decal on the door, and the blue

awning on the back, she can live with that. She does not think she would get anywhere with the blue

awning on the front. She added that she can’t say when she goes to the executive team they would agree

to a burgundy awning on the front and they may say no awning on the front.

Kris Giese explained they have the right to go to the City Council after the DRC makes a motion and

votes no. He said it was just a matter of making a decision of having them vote on a motion and then go

to the City Council, that way there is something on paper from Design Review showing that they either

disagreed with Becky or they could not reach a decision, and that is why she would be before the

Council. Paul Basalay said what she could also do is if they didn’t leave it exactly that way, put the signs

up and the blue awning in the back and see how she likes how it looks with that color; if she didn’t she

couldn’t be stopped from taking down the existing burgundy one. Becky Dall asked what they could be

forced to do. She agreed it looks better with an awning, but she would have to get an agreement from the

executive team to spend the money; $2,000 for each awning. Paul Basalay again suggested she leave the

burgundy one up and see what she thinks before they just take it down.

Paul Basalay suggested two motions: a back door and a front door, that way it would allow her to

proceed with one of those.

Kris Giese made a motion to do the back door as submitted in the blue color. Mike Debo seconds. Mark

Lucas, Jeff King, Paul Basalay, and Matt Lamps vote aye. Doug Biederstedt opposed. Back door awning

is approved.

Doug Biederstedt made a motion that the awning remains burgundy. Mark Lucas seconds. Kris Giese

opposed. Jeff King, Paul Basalay, Matt Lamps vote aye. The front awning is approved if staying in

burgundy.

Gene Anderson asked about other two permits submitted about signs. Paul Basalay said those can be

approved by Building Inspector Jeff King. Jeff King responded the signs are fine and they will be signed

and good to go. He added the only thing that we being held off was the color of the awning.

Paul Basalay asked if there was/ any other way to refurbish the awnings or if they have to be replaced.

Becky Dall thanked everyone and left.

INNOVATIVE STAFF SOLUTIONS:

Gene Anderson said he wanted to go into the history of this awning before Renee Birkenbeuel explained

what Innovative Staff Solutions wanted to do. He explained that he knew Dimond Brothers Insurance

would have to go through what they did because of the color. He said they did all permits for signs for

this location and in July they wanted them to paint the awning but weather did not permit so they

thought it was best to take it down and bring it to the shop. They wanted to play it safe and they are

familiar with towns and permits. He stated he was unsure of what the rules and boundaries were for the

color burgundy and what changes needed to go through the Design Review Committee. Paul Basalay,

Kris Giese, and Jeff King explained what the rules were. Any changes to the façade of a building need to

go through Design Review Committee unless they are just painting the already approved color of

burgundy. Paul Basalay said they may need to formulate some rules for small changes like buildings like

this. He then asked them to proceed and talk about this building.

Renee Birkenbeuel explained the current awning is green. Innovative Staff Solutions just purchased the

building and red is the brand color. She was asked her to come in and present to ask for it to be red

instead of green.

Paul Basalay asked about the grey color of the building. He also asked how long will the paint hold up

on the awning. He was concerned if after one year it would be part green and part red. Gene Anderson

answered according to Sherwin Williams it will last. Jeff King asked what type of paint it is, vinyl or

plastic. It was discussed what type of material the awning was made of and how it would hold up to

weather conditions.

Paul Basalay said he thinks with the grey building the red will look nice. He pointed out it is a

standalone building and does not have any problems with this.

Jeff King made a motion to allow for the awning to be painted red. Kris Giese seconded the motion.

Mike Debo, Mark Lucas, Matt Lamps, and Paul Basalay voted aye, Doug Biederstedt opposed. Motion

carried. Doug Biederstedt added he felt the red was too bright.

Renee Birkenbeuel thanked everyone and left as well as Jon Birkenbeuel.

Gene Anderson asked for more clarification about the Design Review Committee’s role. Paul Basalay

explained more of the Design Review Committee’s job and its purpose. Kris Giese added that it protects

businesses who are already there. Paul Basalay said they are basically looking at outside aesthetics.

Gene Anderson added he did not know painting an awning was included. Mark Lucas said it is the color

change. Gene Anderson thanked everyone and left.

Paul Basalay added he has one item to go over before adjournment. He said if we have a stand along

building, not in downtown, he does not want to be the color police. He said he would like to leave them

do whatever they want as long as it’s a single, standalone building. He said he would like to get

everybody’s agreement and if they don’t agree they will keep doing it the same. Doug Biederstedt said

he disagrees. Jeff King suggested a happy medium, still getting the renderings but sending them out in email.

Doug Biederstedt asked if Dimond Brothers was sent out in an email and was answered yes. Kris

Giese said his concern is if there is signage on the awning that is what they have to pay attention to

otherwise he absolutely agrees. Paul Basalay said it would have to meet the sign ordinance. Paul Basalay

said color wise that as long as it is standalone that’s okay even if it looks terrible; if it is your building

and it looks terrible you will probably change it in a couple of years. He doesn’t want to be the color

police where City Council starts going “these guys are just telling them what colors they can do and

can’t do.” The added that is not what we are really here to do; it is to protect whoever is on each side of

them. Doug Biederstedt said what about a place that is like Kentucky Fried Chicken or the place with

the yellow sign. Paul Basalay said a brand new building is a different story because we will be looking

at the whole thing, he is just talking about an awning on a standalone building or change the color of the

one they have. Kris Giese said that Innovative Staff Solutions was the perfect example. Paul Basalay,

referring to Gene Anderson and Innovative Staff Solution’s awning, said they only had to pay $300 to

paint it but were not initially aware of the $100 fee; he doesn’t want to nickel and dime the small things.

Jeff King suggested to keep sending out and get an agreement and said the biggest thing is to answer

their email. Paul Basalay said if you are not heard back from any DRC people in three (3) days of the

email it is assumed they are ok with it as submitted.

The next meeting date was discussed. DRC meetings were previously discussed and approved to be on

Wednesday at 5;30, on one of two Wednesdays of each month. The next meeting should follow this

format.

Doug Biederstedt brought up he noticed Peru Federal windows on Shooting Park Rd. are full of decals;

he noticed it about a week ago. Jeff King said he will look at it Friday

Mark Lucas made the motion to adjourn at 6:25p.m. Paul Basalay seconded. Meeting adjourned.

Minutes prepared by Ashley Kostos