Falls Church’s Economic Development Authority Tuesday night launched an ambitious “wayfinding” project for the City, being a combination of attractive new signage and other ways to help visitors and residents alike learn how to get around in the Little City. Members of Frazier Associates, experts in the field, interacted with members of the EDA at its meeting tonight to begin shaping the kinds of landmarks and the tone of the signage they say they can be ready by the end of this year to propose.     

EDA Chair Bob Young stressed that a lot more citizen input will be required to agree to signage and priorities for placement. The purpose of the project is to contribute to a “sense of place” for the City with signs to welcome and orient residents and folks passing through, both, using a unified image that reflects the character of the City. Identifying parking spaces is also among the chief goals of the project.     

“Uniformity, standardization and continuity” are keys, the consultants said, with things such as historic downtowns, visitor centers and other large visitor attractions topping a list of priorities.     

Young suggested the EDA might kick off the project with some gateway and parking signage, then turn it over to the City Council to approve funding for more of the project in its future Capital Improvement Project budgets.