By Annie Piekarczyk / STAFF

Three years have passed since Milton was established in 2006, but signs have yet to identify the beginning and end of the city limits. Through the comprehensive planning process, Milton residents have recently expressed strong desires to implement gateway markers along rights of way that enter and exit the city. Tom Wilson, Interim Community Development Director, said there are six entrances and exits that encompass Milton; those gateways occur at Arnold Mill, Birmingham and Highway- 9.

Milton’s City Council voted October 5th  in favor of applying – and hopefully accepting – a  grant from the Georgia Department of Transportation. The Georgia GATEway grant program offers assistance for landscaping and design around markers in the state’s right of ways. The program also provides assistance with the plantings associated with the gateway signage.  However, it does not provide installation or maintenance of the signs.

 
Wilson said the grant amounts to $50,000 and there is no match for it. If Milton receives the grant, and the assumption is the city will accept it, he said, then the city would enter into a Mowing and Maintenance agreement with GDOT. Wilson also explained the city should receive notification as to whether they’ve been awarded the grant within months.

At this point, Wilson said the community development department does not have a pre-established concept of what the signs might look like. “We don’t really have a design in mind [yet]. We’d probably take [any ideas] to the design review board, and then to the city council,” he said.

Residents, visitors and tourists may not currently know or be familiar with where Milton begins, and where it ends. The gateway markers in mind will signify the entrance and exit into Milton, and will also represent the cohesive historic character that Milton exhibits. The signs, according to city council, should represent Milton’s unique nature and disposition.