Council to Consider Sign Program

— The city will join other Northwest Arkansas municipalities in committing to a regional sign system, if the City Council follows a recommendation of its Finance Committee.

The committee, during a meeting Monday, recommended spending an estimated $196,400 for 40 signs to direct people to attractions and amenities. A Walton Family Foundation grant, as part of a pilot program, will pay $43,400 for seven signs to be located near Interstate 540.

“This will be a system of wayfinding signs,” said Bill Rogers, Springdale Chamber of Commerce vice president. “The signs will be of similar design with a color scheme for each city.”

The cities included in the program are Fayetteville, Springdale, Lowell, Rogers, Siloam Springs, Eureka Springs and Bella Vista. The Walton Foundation designed $350,000 for the wayfinding program, said Stacey Sturner, with the Northwest Arkansas Council. The council helped develop the wayfinding system.

The program is based on the signs installed in Bentonville before the opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Sturner said.

The signs in Springdale will point to Arts Center of the Ozarks, Arvest Ballpark, Chamber of Commerce, City Hall, Downtown Springdale, J.B. Hunt Park, Jones Center, Lake Springdale, Parsons Stadium, Shiloh Museum and Tyson Sports Complex, Rogers said.

The signs mainly would be for visitors entering the city from the Sunset Avenue and Elm Springs interchanges on I-540, Rogers said.

The colors on the Springdale sign will be red and blue, to reflect the colors of the city’s two high schools, Har-Ber High and Springdale High.

Most of the cities have committed to putting up the signs during 2013, Rogers said. The possibility of using street turnback money was the reason cities have committed to finish the program so quickly, said Perry Webb, president and CEO of the chamber.

Street turnback money is tax revenues sent to the cities based on population to be used only for streets. Signs could also possibly be purchased with turnback money, said Jeff Harper, City Attorney. Harper said he would quickly research that possibility.

Manufacture and installation of all the signs for the region could be bid in one contract to save money, Rogers said.

A vote on committing to the sign program could be on the next council meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 27.

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