The view from the Arcata Plaza might look a little different soon if the Arcata Planning Commission decides to allow clothing and home-good reseller Eco-Groovy Deals to triple their signage on their H Street storefront at their meeting tomorrow.

Their current 20-square-foot sign takes up a small fraction of the 50 by 10-foot façade. If permitted, Eco-Groovy would swap the smaller sign out for a 44-square-foot aluminum sign on the façade. They’d also add another 16 square feet of vinyl signage on the street-level windows. 

The proposed signage meets all of the city’s rules regulating design standards except for its size.

Eco-Groovy needs permission from the commission because the planned 60 square feet of signage exceeds the 20-foot maximum Arcata allows for businesses. The storefront is one of the largest on the plaza; two lots were combined in 2020 to form one 50 by 115-foot parcel, and Eco-Groovy is the only tenant. The planning commission agrees that the current sign on the façade appears “disproportionately small.” 

“The sign’s materials, scale, and placement are consistent with the character of plaza signage,” reads the city’s staff report, “and do not detract from the architectural cohesion of the immediate neighborhood.”