After community input received, wayfinding signage design tabled by city council
By Timothy Schafer
Wayfinding signage designs chosen by the community have yet to be approved by city council as final decision on the project has been tabled.
At its Jan. 16 regular meeting city council was perplexed with the final look and location of the signs, despite having significant input from the community and business community on its development.
The community had voted for the current sign design as one of the three options developed in consultation with the business community.
But Coun. Julia Butler wondered if the signage committee could revisit the design and have a directional arrow included on it so that people would know where to turn, as well as a distance to the places highlighted.
“I’m not sure if council would entertain the idea of just sending this back to the committee that designed it to just tweak it a little bit,” she said.
“I hear the concerns but this is something the public voted on,” said Coun. Christine Thompson. She said the current sign design was what the majority of people in Grand Forks chose.
“So I hate to go back and start making changes. We asked the public to vote,” Thompson said.
The signs were not meant to have too much information on them in order to not be too distracting. City chief administrative officer Doug Allin said he figured the city could change the symbols over time.
“I think this project will grow as people become more accustomed to it,” he said.
He felt the businesses might begin to ask to advertise for a spot on the post.
“So we have to be careful about how we handle this,” Allin said.
The business community does not want specific signs on the post, Coun. Chris Hammett said. But it does want horizontal business signs suspended across the sidewalk outside of each business, she added.
Butler continued her questioning and wondered why the project couldn’t be fleshed out more and why it needed to be given early budget approval.
Allin said it was important to get it off the books early, because it would be at least three months to get all of the approvals on the project from the province. A delay now would push the project back.
“It would a challenge to deal with this project with the other ones (the city has) on the books,” Allin said.
“But if we are going to do it, we should do it right,” said Mayor Frank Konrad.
Allin suggested getting early budget approval now so city staff could put out the request for proposals for the project, and then come back to council for the implementation of location for the signs, the information to be contained on the signs, as well as the location of the Expo ’86 sign.
“I think we are potentially setting the project back substantially if we start discussing implementation right now,” he said.
However, council instead voted to table the matter until its next regular meeting.
The new signage follows the city’s branding and “fulfills the objectives of creating attractive and informative signs to get cars to turn off the highway and into town.”
While some businesses are visible from Central Avenue, many amenities are further into town, read a city staff report to council.
“Wayfinding will make community amenities easier to find for residents and visitors,” the report read.
Funding for the $65,000 project was approved in 2016 for four signs to be built along Highway 3, two on the approach to the city (east and west entry points), and two in Grand Forks downtown.
The city staff report to council said the project supported section 10 of the Sustainable Community Plan by enhancing the visitor gateway from Highway 3 to the city centre.