The water tower located near 2150 S. 3500 West in Taylor is well known for the Batman logo that was painted on it in the late 1990s. Over the ensuing years, the tower has become a point of pride for local residents, including Barb Findlay, who moved to the area more than two decades ago.

“When we moved out here, two of my grandkids were three and five, and they lived with us. They always knew when they were close to home because they could see the Batman Tower,” Findlay told the Standard-Examiner.

“Now, I have more grandkids, and I have great grandkids, and they all know that they’re close to Grandma’s house when they see the Batman Tower.”

After nearly 30 years, though, Taylor’s homespun bat signal — supposedly the handiwork of a Fremont High School student — has faded, and the Taylor-West Weber Water Improvement District has designs on giving the structure a new paint job.

In other words, the time may have come for the Caped Crusader to return to his Batcave.

“Every so often things need to be painted,” Taylor-West Weber Water Manager Ryan Rogers told the Standard-Examiner. “We want things to look nice and look good. We don’t like graffiti sitting up there, really.”

According to Rogers, repainting the tower is on his agency’s project list. To that end, he says Taylor-West Weber Water is seeking input from the local community on how the tower should painted.

One of the ideas that has been floated is to replace the old Batman logo with that of the West Field High School Longhorns.

West Field High School Principal Mike Martini confirmed to the Standard-Examiner that Taylor-West Weber Water had reached out to the school about using the logo.

Some residents, meanwhile, want the tower to be left alone or simply touched up, leaving the Batman logo in place.

“I hate change, so I don’t want them to do it,” Findlay said. “If they’re going to paint something, just repaint it. Give it a fresh coat of paint and leave it alone. … I realize we have a new school close to us. It’s a new school; Batman Tower has been here forever.”

An online petition imploring decision-makers to preserve the tower as it currently stands — Batman logo and all — has garnered nearly 300 verified signatures as of press time.

Some have even teased repainting the tower’s Batman logo themselves, much to Rogers’ chagrin.

“What’s discouraging is you hear people say, ‘We’ll climb up there and we’ll put a Batman back on there,'” Rogers said. “It’s a federal offense to tamper with any water facility. It’d be like breaking into Hillfield and painting a Batman on a jet.”

The threat by members of the general public to repaint the tower’s current logo also constitutes a safety issue. And due to copyright and intellectual property rights, there’s likely not a scenario in which officials do such a touch-up job themselves, either.

So, for now, they’ll continue to accept community feedback on the best course of action, and the Dark Knight will maintain his unlikely presence in Weber County for at least a while longer.