Brookfield’s gateway intersection at 31st Street and Grand Boulevard as well as four park facilities will be getting new signage in the next month or so as village officials continue to update public signage and make them consistent in design.
The old Kiwanis Club welcome sign at the corner of 31st Street and Grand Boulevard will be replaced by a new roughly 6-by-4-foot aluminum “Welcome to Brookfield” sign mounted on black poles, matching the gateway sign erected a couple of years ago at Ogden and Eberly avenues.
The Brookfield Kiwanis Club has folded since the sign at 31st Street and Grand Boulevard was last spruced up and the village now owns the triangular-shaped property where it sits.
Other new signs – all with burgundy lettering on a cream-colored panel – will be placed behind the backstop at Candy Cane Park, on the corner of Raden and Washington avenues at the entrance to the oak savanna at Kiwanis Park, outside the Recreation House at Elm and Shields avenues in Ehlert Park and outside The Water Tower recreation building just north of the railroad tracks on Maple Avenue.
Assistant Village Manager Stevie Ferrari told elected officials during a status update at the village board’s June 26 committee of the whole meeting that the signs were in line with the goals of Brookfield’s 2015 Open Space Plan.
“[Those] included creating a consistent brand across park and gateway signage, as well as to install signs that require similar or same replacement and maintenance needs,” Ferrari said.
All of the sign panels are made of aluminum, with the park signs having two-dimensional vinyl graphics. The “welcome” sign has raised aluminum graphics. The Recreation House and Water Tower signs will also state the facilities are for the Parks and Recreation Department’s “early childhood programs.”
Right now, there’s no indication what the buildings, which look like a residence and a municipal pumping station, are actually used for.
The total cost for purchase and installation of the signs comes to about $30,000. It’s expected that staff will ask the village board at its July 10 meeting to waive competitive budding and approve the expenditure, using the same company the village has used to manufacture recent new directional and gateway signage.
Once the expenditure is approved, it should take four to six weeks to have the new signs in place, according to Ferrari.
New signs at other locations, such as the south entrance to Kiwanis Park, the Kiwanis Park band shell and Ehlert Park are planned for the future.
