Signs bring a new sense of direction

Scarborough Town Manager Tom Hall holds
up an example of the neighborhood speed
signs installed recently at the entrance to
 several neighborhoods, including Higgins
 Beach.

SCARBOROUGH — You may not realize it, but Scarborough has a problem with its self-image.

Sure, it’s an attractive location to folks looking to settle down, with a reputation even in the post-recession years for being one of the fastest-growing communities in the state, for both residential and commercial development. But what impression does it register on the people passing through?

The answer is, not much.

“For the average person, there’s really no landmark to signal to someone when they’ve entered Scarborough, when they’ve left it, or where there are in it,” said Town Manager Tom Hall.

That’s why the town has spent $40,600 with Bailey Sign of Portland on 14 directional signs that will begin going up across town next week. It’s Phase 1 of a multi-stage program the town hopes will point people where they need to go, while creating a “sense of identity” with a unifying design scheme.

Each 12-foot high, gray-and-orange sign will feature a four-foot-wide panel pointing the way to things like “beaches,” “mall area,” and “library.” The top part of the panel will contain a large, negative-space silhouette of reeds from the town’s famous marsh area, as well as words “Scarborough, est. 1658.”

“Scarborough really is a collection of little villages with no unifying center,” said Hall. “The one thing they do have in common is that history of being one of the oldest towns in the state. So, why not promote that?”

“Hopefully, it will help to create a sense of identity,” said Harvey Rosenfeld, head of the Scarborough Economic Development Corp., who proposed the sign idea to the town’s transportation committee two years ago.

“Scarborough is a large town, about 54 square miles,” he said. “One of the ways to improve traffic flow is to direct people to better ways to get to places – if you’ve ever been to Dunstan Corner in the summer, you know how tied up that gets – but this is a way of doing that while also partially being a way of branding and educating.”

If the common marsh icon is the brand, the educating comes in the form of both the directional markers and the curved sign caps that will name each neighborhood where a sign in placed.

The signs, designed by Simmons Ardell Inc., will be installed by public works crews. Later phases may include larger “gateway” signs at the entry points to town, said Hall.

In the meantime, Scarborough also has purchased a half dozen neighborhood signs to help calm traffic, and tempers, in places like Higgins Beach. The signs, which urge drivers to “respect our neighborhood” and “drive responsibly” at 25 mph, have already gone up.

 “It’s something we can do to get people’s attention in some of our more compact areas, where the streets are fairly narrow,” said Town Planner Dan Bacon.