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08/10/2018 12:54 PMAfter months of consideration and input from the Town Council, the first wave of newly-designed Town of North Branford signs began sprucing up town lines and town parks this week. The shiny, navy-blue boards, supported by blue-pinstriped white posts, pop with lettering painted white. All signs are topped by North Branford's Town seal done in red, white and blue.
"It shows community pride," said Town Planner Carey Duques, who has been heading up the sign replacement project for the town. "And having the signs follow the same lettering and colors shows a kind of a branding for the town: you're not only in North Branford, you're in a park that's owned by the town."
The new color scheme is a reversal of the Town of North Branford's former signs (white with blue lettering), which had become weathered and aged since they were first installed between 15 and 20 years ago.
"They were great signs at the time, but unfortunately, over time, they weathered and were taking a beating out in the elements," said Town Manager Michael Paulhus. "It had become more of an eyesore, as the signs were beyond their lifecycle. We wanted to put a new face on it, so to speak, and have a nice sign putting our best foot forward as you enter the town."
The last of the former town-line welcome signs stood in Northford this year. It was knocked off its post when a tree fell on it during a spring storm, said Duques. Now, a newly-installed sign at the North Haven town line reads, "Welcome to the Village of Northford, Town of North Branford." The other two new welcome signs installed this week state simply, "Welcome to North Branford." Both are located on Route 80, at the town lines at Guilford and East Haven. Crews from Sign Lite Inc., the North Haven company chosen to design the signs, are installing the signs.
At this time, a sign isn't in the works for the Branford town line at Route 139, said Duques. That point of entry already includes some notable North Branford commerce signs, including those belonging to Van Wilgen's Garden Center and Rose Orchards.
"We're not doing anymore at this point for the welcome signs," said Duques. "We are focusing on the parks and working with [Recreation Director] Lauren Munro and the Parks and Recreation Commission."
This week, the program's first new town park sign was installed, at Mill Road Field. Another new sign, at North Farms Park, was set to be installed Friday, August 10. Other town park signs are in the works, including those headed for Totoket Valley Park and Northford Park, said Duques. Following that, a sign will be fabricated for the Reigeluth Courts/Memorial Field/Colter Field complex and installed at the park's North Branford Intermediate School campus entrance (Route 80).
Duques added it's also worth noting Northford's Fire Co. 4 recently put up a sign, independently, to match the new town sign design. She said future efforts of the Town of North Branford signage program could also involve replacing the current community events sign in the Northford village center with a board matching the new design. Another potential upgrade: installing a matching community events sign on the North Branford side of town.
"If we replace the one in North Branford, it would be at a location to be determined. From what I understand, we had one there in the past, at the intersection of Route 80 and Route 139," said Duques.
Duques said both additions would help to further "standardize" the town's appearance. At this point, the community sign replacements are in the wish-list stage. Any decision by the council to go forward one or both new community events signs would be "budget-dependent," said Duques.
The new town signage program is being paid for by tourism funds on town books for over 20 years. In the mid-to-late 1990s, the town received approximately $38,000 to be used for tourism programming; after the Greater New Haven Visitors Bureau was disbanded and its remaining funds were disbursed among towns represented by the bureau.
Last summer, Paulhus brought the Town Council the idea of kickstarting use of the funds for town projects with tourism ties. In addition to approving the new town sign program, the council earmarked exterior re-painting and work on the historic Reynolds-Beers House Museum as another project tied to the funds.
The council spent time debating the new design, materials and coloring for the sign program. Ultimately, the council decided that reversing the original white board and blue lettering to a blue board with white lettering would help the message stand out sharply, with better contrast, said Pauhlus.
"It's something we've been working on for a while. It's great to see the signs going in," said Paulhus.
Now that signs are being installed, Duques noted one of the items also discussed by the Town Council was the possibility of having local organizations adopt a town sign and install plantings the organization would then maintain. She's asking any interested groups to contact her at Town Hall.
"If there are groups that are interested in doing plantings and could commit to maintaining them, that would be great," said Duques.
To contact the Town Planner's office, call Town Hall at (203) 484-6010 or email townplanner@townofnorthbranfordct.com