Elk Grove Scales Back Wayfinding Sign Component of Tourism Push

September 25, 2014 | At Wednesday night's meeting, the Elk Grove City Council scaled back one of the components of its ongoing camp...

September 25, 2014 |

At Wednesday night's meeting, the Elk Grove City Council scaled back one of the components of its ongoing campaign to transform the city into a tourist destination.

By a 4-1 vote with Bob Trigg voting no, the city council decided to scale back its proposed wayfinding sign project. As their name implies, wayfinding signs are placards placed throughout the city directing visitors to points of interest.
In the coming months signs like this will direct visitors to
points of interest in Elk Grove. 

The project that was approved will allocate a total of $347,000 for about 31 signs to be installed throughout the city. The original proposal called for more signs to be placed, but the cost of each sign was underestimated according to Elk Grove Public Works Director Richard Shepard.

The city council selected the higher-grade prominent design,  that will cost $11,000 each, which includes installation. The council decided against the lower-cost valued engineered design that would have cost about $3,500 each.

Each sign is 14-feet high and will feature yet-to-be-determined points of interest in the city. The city had originally sought to place about 47 signs throughout the city.  

No sign installation dates were announced at the meeting.  





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11 comments

Anonymous said...

Elk Grove, tourist destination? LOL

Exactly what points of interest do we have to attract tourists? Strip mall A, B, or C?

Anonymous said...

I find this a total waste of money. Much like the "Elk" placed atop a Freeway sign. It's more like something that should hang in an Art Gallery. While city council may be patting themselves on the back for getting their town’s name into the sign, it’s irrelevant because the customer can’t read any of it. Until self-interest is cast aside and a true regional approach is adopted other people are eating your lunch.

As to the Wayfinding signs and Destination City. You missed the most important part...what is EG's Logo that would make a visitor want to turn off the freeway and visit in the first place? So far I have seen nothing that would warrant a stopover on my way north or south.

Not Cannery Row said...

More grandiose ideas! One of council probably went to Monterey or San Diego and decided that Elk Grove needed the same Wayfinding signs. Trouble is, Elk Grove is not Monterey or San Diego, and we cannot make ourselves in one of those cities.

But hey, it is not their money there are spending. If one of them had to write a check for anything city related, they would be the first to squawk.

But at least now we will know how to get to the Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce. And why are we paying for a sign for them anyway?

Rachell Reinwald said...

The issue at hand is not necessarily the way-finding signs per se, but the timing in which they have been presented; for whom the original signage was used for; and the final product that was erected and its visual ineffectiveness. Constituents may have embraced the concept more easily if there were destinations that would warrant themselves to the need for way-finding signs.

Following a series of missteps and poor investment choices, the idea of way-finding signs seems frivolous and a poor use of public funds - and the timing is just bad (although the concept has been officially on the city's agenda since January of 2012 with a public outreach meeting). If the Civic Center were in place and a few other items built out, then it could justify taking another look at the matter. As it stands now, we are looking at negotiating the cost of installation for signs with an installation date yet to be determined, adding locations that currently do not exist, and once built will require modification of existing signs if they have already been put in place.

Now is the time to consider the teachings of Plato:

"Better a little
which is well done,
than a great deal imperfectly."

Capt. Benjamin L. Willard said...

Ms. Reinwald;

Well stated!

Anonymous said...

Signs to nowhere. LOL

Connie said...

Here’s my concern about the wayfinding signs. In one Google search, I found that in other cities the initial investment was never enough.

Did the Elk Grove City Council and staff factor in replacement costs, costs of damage to the signs such as graffiti – which has occurred with other city signs, and then of course, there are the “special requests.”

One city council found itself in a pickle when they approved a business to be placed on a wayfinding sign and then other businesses cried foul. Other businesses accused that council of preferential treatment due to political pressure. Could that happen in Elk Grove?

Given our council’s recent propensity to change the rules for one developer’s requests, it could happen and then what?

What happens if other areas of Elk Grove are left out and find themselves with an identify issue? We will begin to define other shopping districts throughout our city? Or just the outlet mall when it is finally built?

Jughead Jones said...

Darn, does that mean Gil Moore's giant plastic elk won't be listed on the signs? Mayor Davis even said they'll become a landmark of some sort! Oh well, as long as they can direct me to my favorite malt shops, I'll be happy!

Anonymous said...

Very true. Let's just take one sign on Laguna Blvd. at Stonelake Landing, pointing straight ahead to Old Town, EG Regional Park and City Hall and Police Services. None of those are on Laguna Blvd. so that means several others must be posted to actually get you to those locations. That will be true with I would assume, several others. So, are those included in this cost or is this an additional cost? I didn't really hear anything mentioned by council on how they plan on handling this and are those signs included in the cost? Also what type of signs will those be...$11,000.00 signs? I took this from a picture of a sign from the Agenda Wed. evening. One other is The Falls Event Center on EG Blvd. Should there be a sign for them will that mean all the other Event Centers will have one too? Fair is FAIR....thinking they may have opened a can of worms. Best to have just kept it to Police Services and Medical Facilities.

Anonymous said...

Whoops...meant EG Blvd.

Anonymous said...

"Exactly what points of interest do we have to attract tourists? Strip mall A, B, or C?"



How about the junk food palaces, nail salons, cigarette and vape shops, gun stores, shooting range, 99 cent stores, Big Box stores, weed filled lots?

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