Residents offer input on gateway signage
Residents of Bailey’s Crossroads and Seven Corners had an opportunity last week to indicate how they want their communities presented on gateway signage.
The Fairfax County Community Revitalization Section is undertaking a project to develop signs and banners that promote the unique character and aesthetic identity of each area. The goal is to instill community pride and enhance the sense of place with the potential to encourage redevelopment.
At a recent meeting of the Crossroads + Corners Coalition, representatives from Ashton Design, the county’s consultants for the project, presented the findings from a public survey, then asked participants to take part in a “dot exercise.”
Ashton displayed images of various sign concepts on a wall, and participants affixed dots to their favorite designs, colors, materials, fonts, shapes, and other elements.
Related story: What makes Bailey’s Crossroads and Seven Corners special?
Ashton will consider community residents’ preferences in developing potential designs for signs and banners. Their ideas will first be presented to Mason Supervisor Andres Jimenez, then shared at a public meeting on July 30, 7:30 p.m., at the Mason Government Center.
Separate surveys were conducted for Bailey’s Crossroads and Seven Corners. Slightly more than half of the respondents to both surveys said they prefer separate, distinct designs for each area with unifying components.
Ashton proposes signs at four locations in Bailey’s Crossroads: on Leesburg Pike across from the Culmore Shopping Center, on the Columbia Pike median strip by the Best Buy shopping center, on Columbia Pike by Carlin Springs Road, and on the Leesburg Pike median by the Skyline Center.
Signs are proposed for Seven Corners on the pedestrian bridge over Arlington Boulevard, the median on Leesburg Pike between Sears and the Seven Corners Shopping Center, and two locations on Leesburg Pike at the Seven Corners intersection with Arlington Boulevard.
The surveys asked what defines each area. For Bailey’s Crossroads, the most often-cited trait was diversity – racial, cultural, culinary, and economic.
Respondents also highlighted the community’s history (Hachaliah Bailey and the circus legacy, President Lincoln’s Grand Review of 1861, and the former airport), location (the literal crossroads of major roads and cultures), and character (eclectic, blight, traffic, and visual clutter).
Several people said they want to retain the circus theme, which is depicted on the current signs. Others called that imagery outdated or inaccurate.
Related story: Gateway signage in the works for Seven Corners and Bailey’s Crossroads
Some of the things Bailey’s Crossroads residents said they are most proud of include:
- cultural fusion and cooperation among residents.
- local small businesses and affordability.
- inclusive, neighborly, and down-to-earth.
- multigenerational roots, including historic Black communities.
The survey asked Bailey’s Crossroads residents to indicate their vision of what the signage should convey. Respondents said the signs should:
- be welcoming and distinctive, instilling community pride.
- evoke a sense of place, both past and present.
- avoid corporate or generic aesthetics.
- be visually interesting but not overly busy.
- evoke a sense of place through landscaping around the signs.
- be durable with the use of low-maintenance materials.
If the signage includes a motto, suggestions for Bailey’s Crossroads included “Where Roads Meet and Neighborhoods Grow,” “The World’s Hometown,” and “The Cultural Hub.”
When asked what defines Seven Corners, survey respondents mentioned its position as a long-standing convergence of roads, dating back to early footpaths and the Civil War (Fort Buffalo and Taylor’s Tavern), and the Seven Corners Shopping Center, which was one of the region’s earliest malls.
People also cited the community’s strong ethnic, racial, and cultural mix and its chaotic and unsafe transportation infrastructure.
Potential motto suggestions for Seven Corners include “At the Center of Everything” and “Come Together.”
Signs really are pretty low on the need status. Complete sidewalks bury the drainage in Culmore this would be progress. The plans are to increase housing along Rt. 7 from US 50 to Columbia pike. This is a traffic issue that should be addressed prior to adding the housing units. Seven corners have some space going unused but not the traffic lanes to handle what it is experiencing now, so the plan is to increase the load? I guess the Home Unit developers took up all the seats at the meetings. Have the home builders be required to first build all the access road ways and pedestrian interface points, and then they can start on the housing units. If they wish permission to build and profit, then they should demonstrate by investing first.
as dumb an expenditure (for a cash-strapped County) as is/was ” THE LITTLE CITY” for Falls Church
Absolutely a waste of money! Who’s the audience for this frivolity? If you don’t know now where you are then get off of the road. Just like the Springfield sign. Is it downtown Springfield, west Springfield, north Springfield. It does nothing to orient drivers where they are. Just like the signs on 395 “Arlington next 5 exits”. Exits to where? Scrap this boondoggle
They have chicken. Get out of the line!
It has to be 18 yrs or older
I attended the meeting — I was extremely disappointed. Then when I asked about the Springfield signs and having no idea what ‘they’ meant; I was told ‘Ashton Design’. Falls Church City signs show/read what they mean. They are simple, to the point–which is–give direction; which they do.