The Haines Borough Assembly in a 4-2 vote March 8 authorized $14,052 to MRV Architects of Juneau for final design on a signage project that aims to more effectively direct visitors throughout town.

“We just completed a downtown revitalization planning process, which cost us $40,000,” borough staffer Debra Schnabel said in an interview last week. “One of the major issues with downtown and one of the strongest recommendations that MRV made was we’ve got to get better signage.”

Assembly members Greg Goodman and Scott Rossman voted against the resolution. “I think we’re asking for champagne on a beer income,” Goodman said.

Rossman described the project as “$14,000 to design signs, make a picture of a sign” and said, “I’ve just got to always wrap my mind around the ridiculousness of this stuff, sometimes.”

Schnabel, who has worked with a borough signage committee, said the project is “not as easy as just sticking a pole in the ground and saying ‘Walk this way.’”

“That way you end up getting incredible amounts of clutter and people aren’t orientated; they’re just kind of following signs, mindlessly,” she said.

Schnabel said the signs would be “highly customized” and noted the borough had budgeted $80,000 for signage this year.

“We’re putting up four contextual signs, and the contextual signs are the ones that say, ‘You are here,’ and they can give you an orientation,” she said. “The plan right now is for places of entry, so there will be one at the cruise ship dock, one at the visitor’s center, one at the boat harbor and then the last one, we’re still kind of kicking around.”

Schnabel said the signs also would make visitors aware of destinations like Battery Point, Chilkoot Lake and Mount Ripinsky.

Borough manager Mark Earnest said money for signs would come from cruise ship taxes and the capital improvement project budget.

“What this will do is integrate the image and put together the ideas and thoughts and plans for the downtown revitalization for the eventual sea walk – if we are able to acquire Picture Point – tie that to the cruise ship dock to have directional signs, interpretative signs, pointing people in town as they come off the cruise ship, take their hike to Picture Point,” Earnest said. “They can then, along the way, find out valuable information for what’s available in downtown.”

He said the signs also would provide a consistent theme for ferry and highway visitors.

“It has to be recognizable,” Earnest said. “We’re dealing with people who have, for the most part, never been to Haines before. I’ve got to be honest, when I arrived, I was a little confused.”

Earnest earlier had authorized $9,510 for MRV’s preliminary design services on the same project.

MRV in February shared a 23-page presentation with the signage committee. The presentation showed some options for signs and supporting kiosks, with features such as “map zooming.”

“Using a zoomed-in section along with a larger contextual map allows detailed information to be displayed while also showing where a certain area is within a larger field,” the report said. “In the way-finding graphics for Haines, this might mean that there will be a map of the whole town and a close-up of a neighborhood.”

According to a fee proposal dated Feb. 18 from MRV president Paul Voelckers, MRV would work with Lehrman Cameron Studio of Seattle to develop a final design.

Member Steve Vick said he wanted the project to move forward so the signage could be in place for the coming tourist season.

“I would think that any professional service would probably charge the same amount,” he said. “I think these are the experts in traffic flow and trying to get people to downtown.”

Vick said he also felt a bit lost on his first visit to Haines. “I could have ended up at the ferry terminal before I got downtown,” he said.

Rossman said once the design is finished, the assembly should give preference to local contractors for construction of the signs.

“I do not want to spend money and give it to some outfit in Seattle or wherever,” he said. “We have lots of artists here. We have lots of craftsmen. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to fabricate signs in Haines, USA, and keep that money here.”

Regulations of the state Department of Transportation may slow progress on the project. The borough recently learned the state doesn’t want the borough’s signs on its rights-of-way, that the signs can’t be readable from a vehicle, and that they can’t resemble state directional or street signs.

“DOT doesn’t want us putting our signs on their right-of-way. They will allow them on DOT right-of-way if there’s no other option,” said borough facilities director Brad Maynard. “I think (DOT) will be good to work with, if we work with them up front.”