Carmel’s mayor leads a volunteer project that placed controversial signage at the Forest Theater.

In mid-May, six handicap parking signs crafted from giant, old-growth redwood and painted in bright blue appeared in the parking lot at Carmel’s Outdoor Forest Theater. “Made to look like authentic Carmel signage,” an invoice reads. They cost $865 each, for a total of $5,191. City officials never reviewed the signs’ design nor saw them until they were installed, along with 13 other signs totaling $23,493 at the entrances and elsewhere around the 116-year-old theater.

The source of the signs appears to be Mayor Dale Byrne, the co-founder of nonprofit Carmel Cares, who was elected in 2024 largely thanks to his popularity due to the success of the group.

Byrne stepped down from the board after the election but retained the title Chief Caring Officer until December when he became the volunteer leader of the group’s Forest Theater project. He has faced criticism for a potential conflict of interest since the City has an agreement with Carmel Cares to pay half for the group’s improvement projects – Carmel Cares pays for materials and the City pays vendors directly for labor, according to City Administrator Brandon Swanson. Byrne has denied any conflict of interest.

Byrne is listed as the point of contact on an invoice from the Castroville company Signs by Van dated April 21 for the 14 signs. Byrne requested that the city reimburse the company half, or $11,746, which Swanson authorized on June 3.

According to emails obtained by the Weekly through a California Public Records Act request, internal questions were raised about the payment, citing concerns that there was no design review and that three quotes were not obtained for an expense exceeding $5,000. Questions were also raised over whether the handicap parking signs were compliant with Americans With Disabilities Act standards.

The handicap signs were removed the week of June 15, Swanson says. The City is being reimbursed until all the signs go through a formal review process. Carmel Cares is paying the full bill for now.

Byrne says there is nothing suspicious about what happened, that the signmaker “got very excited about this job and jumped the gun while making signs that were a bit out of scope from what was intended as like for like,” he says. “They were beautiful and much more effective, but our test of them triggered a couple of folks.”

Some residents did raise objections after the “Forest Theater” entrance signs were installed, contending the entire project should have been reviewed by the city’s Historic Resources Board and Planning Commission.

Signs by Van owner Jeremy Vander Kraats says they did “jump the gun” on the three entrance signs, in part to get public input but also to replace the failing signs. They removed the new signs after the complaints.

His father, Phil Vander Kraats, the original owner, was Carmel’s second signmaker, creating most of the distinctive sand-blasted signs around town, the son says.