Jeremiah Miller, facilities manager for Misty Meadows Equine Learning Center, came before West Tisbury board of selectmen Wednesday evening for permission to erect a sign for donations on the roadside. The sign, which Miller said would be fashioned to look like a barn, is meant to help the nonprofit horse center garner donations after its ledgers took a hit from the pandemic.
Miller described the sign as a “Giving Barn” that would be cut from a sheet of plywood accompanied by cutouts of horses and a picket fence. It would be located near the intersection of Old County Road and Scotchman’s Bridge Lane, and accented with battery-powered lights.
“We have a goal of $50,000,” Miller told the board regarding the campaign.
“I was all in favor of recommending this until I heard about the lights,” selectman Skipper Manter said. “I think that adds another level of discussion.”
“What’s your concern about that?” chair Cynthia Mitchell asked.
“What type of lights? We have lighting bylaws in town. Things like that. I’m just not sure what type of lights he’s talking about. I’m in favor of the signs, but does it need to be lit up at night? How many hours? You say several hours but you don’t know for sure?”
Miller responded: “We intended to just use some Christmas lights.” He added a neighbor said Misty Meadows could string some along her split rail fence. “And then we were thinking of putting some around the outline of the barn. It would just be a couple small strands of Christmas lights.”
“Holiday light is what you mean to say, I’m sure,” Manter said.
“Yeah,” Miller said.
Satisfied there were no spotlights, Manter moved to approve the temporary signage.
Selectman Kent Healy wasn’t sold yet. He asked how the sign jibes with West Tisbury zoning bylaw, since the road shoulder it would sit on is town land.
Town administrator Jennifer Rand said since the sign is temporary — no more than 15 days — it’s lawful for the selectmen to approve it.
Healy asked if there were strictures on sign subject matter and size.
Rand said there didn’t appear to be any restriction on subject matter. She didn’t have the bylaw in front of her to refer to, but said she and building inspector Joe Tierney previously scrutinized the bylaw. “The short version is if you folks approve this, it meets zoning,” she said.
Manter said because the sign is for a nonprofit advertising a fundraiser, it “sways me quite a bit.”
Miller said funds were greatly needed.
“It’s been a difficult year, as it has for everyone,” he said. “We’ve unfortunately had to scale back some of the programs that we had started to add on before the [pandemic].” Those Included working with veterans and folks at Windemere through “therapeutic riding,” he said.
The board voted unanimously to approve the sign, with the condition the highway superintendent be looped in.
“I’m excited to see it,” Mitchell said of the sign.
Misty Meadows equine manager Susie Buck later told The Times the campaign, called “Fill Our Barn,” will have a text-to-donate aspect, and folks are encouraged to visit the Misty Meadows website, where they can find an interactive donation barn.
In the grande scheme of things it seems absolutely hilarious that this is even a discussion. It’s a great equine learning center that wants to put up a sign with a few lights….what is the big deal? There isn’t even a home that would see the Christmas lights. We are in the middle of the worst health crisis our country and the world has ever seen, and our little space bubble uber wealthy town is worried about a sign for a non-profit business?!!
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