by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
City Council member Lynette Self has scheduled a meeting for Wednesday at City Hall to discuss new signage standards downtown.
Representatives from the Downtown Development Authority, Downtown Vision, Inc. and the Jacksonville & the Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau are expected to attend.
“It needs to be done and it has a long history,” said Self. “We’ve been doing research concerning signage for some time and I’m hoping to bring everyone up to speed. Downtown needs to become more user friendly for drivers and pedestrians looking for the various public buildings down here.”
Self, who gathered a substantial amount of information from the DDA and the Florida Department of Transportation while engaged in “preliminary planning,” said she expects little resistance from other Council members.
“I don’t see why something like this wouldn’t be embraced,” she said. “If you look at the directional signs we have in place now, it can be confusing and there is a lot of confliction there.”
FDOT spokesperson Mike Goldman concurred.
“You really just want to focus on eliminating confusion for people trying to get down here. It’s as simple as that,” he said. “And when you’re working on a project like this, you want to be sure that the signs in place are visible and can direct people without confusing them. You want consistency. A driver shouldn’t have to take their eyes off of the road for very long, because when that starts to happen, you’re dealing with more of a safety issue.”
Goldman said the anticipated Super Bowl traffic provided an additional push for the signage overhaul.
Though nothing has been introduced before the Council, Self said newer directional signs — signage in Orlando, St. Louis and Minneapolis may serve as possible models — should be in place within six months, following a “redesign phase.”
“We know that we are working off a tight budget this year and we’re sensitive to that,” she said. “I can’t say, exactly, what kind of figure we’re looking at, but it may be possible for us to print the signs in-house and we can save some money there. We’ll have to see.”
Council member Suzanne Jenkins, whose district includes much of the downtown business district, will likely play a key role in passing any sign legislation once a plan is agreed upon.
“Getting something like this together is important,” she said. “I’d like people to know that we have downtown, not just a riverfront. When you’re down here, you should be able to find what you’re looking for. I plan to stay involved.”