Providence Regional Medical Center Everett is asking the city to allow it to put up three wall signs on the new hospital tower that exceed the city’s current 60-square-foot limit by more than double. The proposed signs would feature a 93-foot backlit, blue cross above the 38-foot-long word “pr
ovidence.”
The matter went in front of the Everett Planning Commission Tuesday night. Various representatives from the hospital, including an attorney, told the committee that the sign is appropriately scaled for the tower and since it would be placed 150 feet above street level, it would appear far smaller from the ground. They also said the sign was important as a way-finding device for people unfamiliar with the area searching for the hospital in an emergency. The signs proposed are consistent with signs of comparable medical institutions in the area, they said.
The hospital had previously talked to hospital neighbors at two meetings in March.
Several neighbors showed up with different views on the matter. Jeffrey McClimans, who lives on the 1100 block of Colby, told the commission that he would be able to see the proposed signs from every room in his house — except his bathroom. He said a city notice that went out to neighbors neglected to mention that the signs would be illuminated and mounted near the top of the tower. While acknowledging the importance of identifying the hospital in an emergency, McClimans said the proposed sign appeared to function as “an advertising sign” more than a way-finding device.
The city has okayed larger signs than zoning permits — Boeing’s sign, for example — but these signs are in commercial and industrial areas, not near residential neighborhoods, said Dave Tyler, who works for the city’s planning department.
The Planning Commission agreed to recommend the hospital’s proposal with a few modifications, including adding a specific description of the proposed sign so that the hospital wouldn’t end up with a radically different sign. The matter will eventually make its way to the City Council for a final vote.
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