Signs in Burns Lake will soon be enhanced to become more colourful and cohesive, which is intended to encourage more visitors to enjoy the amenities and services in town.
The village’s new sign strategy was adopted by council last week.
The village hired R. Radloff & Associates Inc. in November 2015 to prepare the municipal sign strategy. According to Radloff’s report, the current signs in Burns Lake lack appeal and attraction to key amenities. In addition, the report says some signs are in poor condition while others are considered “confusing for tourists.”
“There is a wide ranging mixture of sign styles within Burns Lake and along the highway corridor, and this creates a lack of cohesion, and a cluttered visual travel corridor landscape,” says the report.
The proposed new sign designs offer a fun, vibrant and dynamic colour scheme intended to attract more visitors to stop and shop in the Lakes District.
One of the suggestions in the report is to place signs 20 to 30 km out of town, so that visitors know well in advance what amenities and attractions they’ll find in Burns Lake.
The strategy includes directional signs, municipal facility signs, entry portal signs, parks and trails signs, highway corridor signs, and heritage building signs.
The report also suggests placing banners along the highway corridor, providing “information, colour and excitement.”
Dan Adamson, Radloff’s Director of Project Development, said banners would be an affordable and effective option to promote amenities and events in town.
The report adds that collaboration with the six local First Nations will “greatly enrich the designs.”
“The development of a graphic that can effectively bring together the surrounding communities and unify them will bring deeper meaning [to the strategy],” says the report.
Now that the strategy was adopted by council, the next step is for councillors to review the recommendations and choose which actions will be implemented.
Although the village hopes to start implementing some of the new signs before the end of the year, the strategy could take several years to be implemented.
“As this strategy is a long-range plan, the recommendations will be implemented over many years,” said Krystin St. Jean, Economic Development Officer for the Village of Burns Lake.
The total cost for completion of the plan was roughly $15,000. However, the village says the total cost to implement the sign strategy is “unknown at this time.”
“As the recommendations are reviewed and prioritized, budgets will be established for each action taken,” explained St. Jean.
Community members had a chance to provide their input on the village’s new sign strategy on March 10, 2016, at the Burns Lake Heritage Centre.
In order to develop the sign strategy, Adamson worked with Bernice Magee, former Mayor and Councillor for Burns Lake, and Laurelin Svisdahl, a partner in the firm Jay Lazzarin Landscape Architects.