Kimberley’s signage will be getting a makeover during the next few months, with a Signage Strategy now complete and ready to be implemented.
Kimberley City Council previously approved a budget to undertake a comprehensive review of community signage and development of an updated strategy for new and replacement of signs.
That strategy was completed and Council approved the update at a regular Council meeting on Monday. The Signage Strategy includes removing outdated signs, prioritizing new sign actions and confirming neighbourhoods and regions.
Manager of Planning Services Troy Pollock says City staff have already begun to implement some of the signage recommendations. New signage will start to be installed in the coming months and continue into 2019. It will not all happen at once, however.
Pollock adds that existing community directional signs have deteriorated and are in need of replacement. There is also a lack of and inconsistency in biking and pedestrian signage.
“Improved signage is essential to attracting and welcoming visitors and helping them to explore the community,” said Pollock. “Another key objective of the project is to build upon and align sign improvement with previous community brand initiatives.”
A working group of local tourism and stakeholders, including representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Kimberley, arts, festival and events, retail, food and beverage, and accommodations sectors, was convened to provide input and feedback in development of the strategy.
According to the Signage Strategy, point of entry signs are ranked the most important to be installed or replaced. Followed by that will be welcome signs, directional signs, City regions, street signs, trailheads, facilities, and points of interest.
Pollock says that the City’s overall wayfinding will improve with the addition of the demarcation of regions within the community. The regions include neighbourhoods and other commonly referred to areas.
The specific area designations are Marysville, Forest Crowne, Chapman Camp, Blarchmont, Downtown, Townsite, Upper Kimberley (Resort, Norton Ave. and Alpine Crescent areas), and St. Mary Valley.
These areas will be colour coded, which will also be reflected on maps to help visitors identify the different regions.
“I love the new colours. I love the idea of the different colours for different neighbourhoods and I like the vividness of it all,” said Councillor Sandra Roberts.
Councillor Darryl Oakley agreed, “This is really excellent. I’m thrilled to see this going forward. It looks beautiful, it’s consistent [and] very professional.”
“It was a really good process to be involved with,” said Councillor Nigel Kitto. “I think Story & Co. did an awesome job and it was heartening to find out that there’s other people in the community excited by signs. I think most people don’t really pay too much attention to them. That’s the ideal thing about signage, it shouldn’t really reach out and grab you and beat you over the head with it, you can only really see it if you’re looking for it and I think its going to be a great help to visitors.
“Lastly, it helps to close that loop on rebranding; what we’re seeing online and in promotional material we’ll now be seeing in town. It’s fantastic for Kimberley. We’re painting the town red, it’s going to be awesome.”
Councillor Kent Goodwin agrees that the strategy is a good one, however he did have one suggestion moving forward. He says that it would be worth discussing signage that denotes the land that is First Nations and Ktunaxa Territory “to remind people coming to our town about where we live and who’s territory this is.”
Lastly, Mayor Don McCormick says signage of this kind is important in a community like Kimberley.
“The wayfinding signs are really for visitors. They are really important in a resort municipality like ours,” said the Mayor. “It’s also about clutter reduction. There will be less distracted driving with clear signage and people will be able to get to their destination quickly.”
