North Cowichan wants to have more prominent signs on the municipality’s northern and southern boundaries on the Trans-Canada Highway to, among other reasons, help give people a better sense of where North Cowichan begins and ends.
Council voted at its meeting on July 17 for the municipality to develop plans for new and more notable signs to replace the more modest signs currently in place on its boundaries.
Council also wants staff to develop plans to update the North Cowichan sign facing the TCH at the municipal hall, which currently displays an older municipal logo featuring a mountain and lake scene with a barn and fish, and to expand the street-banner program.
A number of council members pointed out during the discussion on the issues that many people, including residents as well as tourists, don’t know what the boundaries of North Cowichan are, and they hope that new signage on the TCH can be educational in defining the geographical boundaries.
In a staff report, North Cowichan’s manager of communications and public engagement Barb Floden said that if council wants to further expand the brand of North Cowichan, there is an opportunity to explore options for more prominent gateway signage and to develop a cohesive branded look for gateway and municipal hall signage.
“Should council wish to explore the gateway-signage opportunity, staff will engage the services of a consultant to develop concept plans, options, and initial costings for council’s consideration as part of the 2025 business planning and budget discussions,” Floden said.
Coun. Bruce Findlay said while he agrees that North Cowichan needs better brand recognition to more adequately define who the people of the municipality are, he’s not in favour of spending $25,000 on a consultant.
He suggested that the community should be invited to get involved in a contest to come up with design ideas for new branding and new signage for North Cowichan to help provide some options, and the chosen winner of the contest would get a prize.
“It will save thousands of dollars [in consultant fees] and it’s a nice way to be inclusive in the community and maybe have some extra community engagement,” Findlay said.
Coun. Tek Manhas agreed with Findlay that a consultant shouldn’t be used, and suggested municipal staff are capable of doing the required work.
He said the municipality used to use consultants sparingly, but they are now used much more frequently.
“We have a competent staff who are paid well to do their jobs, and I don’t believe spending $25,000 on a consultant is the way to go,” Manhas said.
“We should hold a survey and a prize for the best idea.”
But Mayor Rob Douglas said while he has no doubt that staff could provide some strong recommendations on the issue, he thinks that if staff felt they had the capacity, they wouldn’t have recommended to council to hire a consultant.
CAO Ted Swabey said he thinks there is a need to hire a consultant.
He said there needs to be consultations with local First Nations as to what should be on the gateway signs, and it also needs to be determined where it would be appropriate to place the gateway signs for identifying when people are entering and leaving North Cowichan.
“I think we need some help with that before we get into what the signs look like, which I think is not something we want to go out to the public with,” Swabey said.
“We don’t even know where we could have the signs and what they can be, and I think we have other interests to consider before we look for that kind of input.”
Douglas said he’ll support staff’s recommendation.
“We’re one of the oldest municipalities in the province, yet there seems to be a lot of confusion around our geographical boundaries,” he said.
“As a number of you noted, there’s often confusion between us and the City of Duncan. A big part of our municipality is under the impression they live in the City of Duncan.”
The vote for expanding North Cowichan’s banner program passed unanimously, while the vote to hire a consultant to identify locations, scope and potential costs associated with new gateway signage and to update the signage at the municipal hall passed, with Findlay and Manhas opposed.
