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Letter to the Editor: Not a Fan of New Signage

Congratulations, Baileys Harbor! You win, hands down.

I felt Sister Bay held the title easily with our top-of-the-bluff tenements (not bad-looking buildings, but, like tenements in Chicago, too many buildings in too little space, destroying our village bluff) and our two big warehouse buildings, far out of proportion with the rest of the village.

Then Egg Harbor edged ahead of Sister Bay when it allowed the two big, black cubes to dominate that village, with condo complexes totally surrounding what was once a charming village.

But now, Baileys Harbor! You far outshine anything Egg Harbor or Sister Bay have done. Your gigantic, metal building with enormous columns was bad enough, but what I saw today took my breath away – and not in a good way. Now the large signs advertising the contents of the building loom over the sidewalk, shouting in your face. Just plain ugly. Amazing that County of Door zoning allows this to happen.

Thank goodness Ephraim and Ellison Bay, as well as Fish Creek, have managed to keep the character of Door County in spite of growth and building. Congratulations to those villages, growing in ways that keep the charm and small-town feel that people have loved for more than 100 years as they vacation and we live here.

Obviously, this is just my opinion, but it’s been echoed by virtually everyone I have spoken with. I wonder what’s next if we’re not careful.

Nancy Akerly

Sister Bay, Wisconsin