Markham park signs to get standard makeover
New markers made from aluminum composite

YorkRegion.com
July 21, 2016
Amanda Persico

There’s more to a sign than a name.

Over the next three years, Markham plans to spend more than $570,000 to update its current stock of 435 parks with new, standard park signs in terms of type, size and design.

The new signs, made from aluminum composite, will feature the park name, civic address, city logo along with three Bur Oak leaves on green background – a departure from the older brown wood signs with yellow letters.

The new signs will be erected and visible at each park entrance, including parks with multiple street entrances.

At the top of the priority list are those parks without signs, major attraction parks and parks with sports fields associated with them.

Having a citywide standard helps make parks more recognizable for residents and for emergency services, the city’s community and fire services commissioner Brenda Librecz said.

“We want to make it easy to identify,” she said.

This also makes it easier for local and out-of-town sports organizations to find soccer fields or baseball diamonds that are part of a larger park.

All of the city’s parks have been mapped and are coded with the city’s fire and emergence services departments, Librecz said.

Currently, there are more than 240 parks without signs and 190 with older signs that will have to be replaced.

The new signs will be made of aluminum composite, with durability, strength and UV resistance in mind.

The signs, costing between $1,200 and $1,400 depending on the size, were also graffiti tested – scratched, burned and tagged – to see how easy graffiti removal will be.

Signs at new parks that currently don’t have signs will be partially funded through development charges.

Older parks with signs will be funded through the city’s life cycle reserve funds.

The new citywide park signs project dates back to 2013 with a staff direction from council.

Part of the delay can be attributed to the number of approvals required, including fire and emergency services, parks and recreation and Heritage Markham, along with making any adjustments thereafter, the city’s parks and open space manager Linda Irvine said.

Also, there were more than 90 parks that did not have an official name and each sign has to be custom printed with the name and address, she added.

City staff expedited the sign replacement program from four years to three with all signs to be complete by 2018.