Leaders hope 'lollipop' signs sweeten Ocoee

OCOEE — To continue with a long-range vision to carve out an identity for their municipality, Community Redevelopment Agency board members discussed a variety of signage and branding options for Ocoee at their meeting April 7.

The most notable is a series large, “lollipop”-style signs that spell the city’s name at the Florida’s Turnpike overpass at Maguire Road. The signs will include five 20-foot poles. At the top of each pole will be a 5-foot-diameter circle, each displaying one letter of the city name. The poles will be installed in the middle median on Maguire Road, and the letters will be lit with LEDs and visible from both directions on the turnpike.

The letters are the same size as the ones displaying “Orlando” on Interstate 4.

CRA Administrator Russ Wagner said the city has been working on purchasing and installing these $44,800 lollipops for four years and finally has found a sign manufacturer — Sign Producers — that is willing to construct and install them. Wagner said liability concerns have slowed the progress of the signs. However, in this design, each of the five poles will be bolted into the concrete, and the signs will be able to withstand 180-mph winds. And, because of the walking canopies on both sides of the overpass, even if the signs did fall, they never would fall onto the turnpike itself, Wagner said.

“It’s a very simple sign, and it should be very visible to a lot of people driving by,” he said. “This will really get a lot of play for publicity for the city. I think it will be a really positive thing.”

Before the final installation, Sign Producers will experiment with fake signs on a lift truck to determine the exact height and location that will yield maximum visibility.

Ginger Corless, citizen board member and CRA chair, said she welcomes the signs.

“I’m excited to finally see something about to start happening,” she said.

Wagner said the timeframe for the signs depends on the manufacturing time, but he anticipates about two to three months.

With $50,000 earmarked for the lollipop signs, they account for about 40% of the CRA’s $120,000 signage and branding budget. Other items in the budget include updated street signs ($13,350), way-finding signs ($25,000), public-art projects ($15,000) and a series of about 18 temporary FiftyWest business district signs ($19,650).

CRA board member and Ocoee City Commissioner Rosemary Wilsen raised concerns regarding the FiftyWest business district signs, which would be installed at intersections along State Road 50 to promote Ocoee businesses while the road is under construction.

“They don’t really appeal to me,” Wilsen said. “I think with all the construction going on on (S.R.) 50, I don’t really even want to think about these kinds of signs until 50 is done. I don’t see the value, quite frankly.”

A public-art project in the Mills 50 area in Orlando inspired the CRA to devise a similar program for Ocoee. In Mills 50, local artists were invited to paint the traffic-signal boxes at major intersections.

“It’s because of the marketing they did; I can’t emphasize this enough,” Wagner said of Mills 50’s success. “You have to market your area to create this image of a place.”

Because Ocoee’s traffic-signal boxes along S.R. 50 will be moved during construction, the Ocoee CRA is hoping to launch a similar program using large, water-filled barrels as blank canvases for local artists, organizations and schools. The barrels will cost $300 each.

“The idea (for the art barrels) infuses color, activity; it shows the community is interested in art,” Wagner said. “It includes citizens and students who would be involved in the project to paint these. … It’s another way to add, enliven and activate what’s going on in the area.”

The CRA approved the use of signage funding for all projects except the FiftyWest business signs. The CRA approved spending funds to fabricate four of those business signs for review at a later date.

Contact Michael Eng at [email protected].

IN OTHER NEWS

• The Ocoee City Commission approved a change in the fees charged for city police and fire personnel responding to false alarms. Previously, residents were charged $35 for the fourth response to a false alarm, $75 for a fifth and $150 for sixth and subsequent responses. Under the new fine schedule, residents are subject to a flat $100 fine for the fourth and any subsequent false alarm. Additionally, false-alarm violations now will be reviewed by the city’s Violations Hearing Board.

• The commission approved an ordinance that decreases Ocoee’s road impact fees by an average of 25%. The ordinance does not amend other impact fees, including those for police, fire and recreation.

• Commissioners approved the preliminary and final site plans for McCormick Reserve, a new 134-home community on about 45 acres on the southwest corner of McCormick and North Clarke roads. The developer, Ryan Homes, will offer homes starting at 1,500 square feet in the mid-$200,000s.