CREST HAVEN – Freeholders voted to spend $136,178 Aug. 28 to have a Columbus, Ohio firm design a logo and placemaking for the county Division of Open Space and Farmland Preservation.
Those logo and images would unite all county Open Space projects giving taxpayers a visual notice of how their tax dollars, approved in 1989 referendum by a 2-1 margin, have been spent.
Leslie Gimeno, Planning Department director, explained to the board the need for the program at the 3 p.m. caucus. The resolution was passed at the 4:30 p.m. regular meeting.
Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton at first balked at the amount, “Which is over $136,000 to promote our Open Space program.”
Then Gimeno began her explanation. She pointed to the 2013 expansion of programs to include not only farmland and open space preservation, but also to include recreational facilities and historic preservation.
Since the program’s inception over $84 million has been expended, she said.
While the program is widely known, Gimeno said that some people and municipalities do not fully understand what the program does.
Several years ago, she said, $500 was spent with a graphic designer to create a new logo for the program. “Really, it was just not active in communicating the message. So what we have done, we have created this RFP (request for proposal). That RFP was for creative placemaking, she said.
That, Gimeno said, is “a new field in planning that combines professional planning, landscape architecture, graphic design and puts it all in a package that helps a place tell a story and give it visual identity we can give to a place and then replicate to be part of the system.”
Such a visual design would help the public better understand how all the various parcels throughout the county have been spared from development through the program, she noted.
“Aesthetics are important,” Gimeno said, and some places didn’t give it much thought as they went forward with their project.
“We thought we would take the lead in that and use creative placemaking field to help generate some ideas and design guidelines,” said Gimeno that municipalities could integrate into their projects.
Five proposals were received, she noted. The one from Designing Local was deemed the best and thus the recommended one to hire, she said.
The first phase of the contract, for $25,000, will create a logo and branding.
“At any given point we can put the brakes on,” Gimeno said.
Based on recommendations for others that have utilized the firm, Gimeno said, “They are the right firm for us.”
As an example, the firm will use the Upper Township Harborview Park, east of Tuckahoe Inn on Route 9, as its test site to showcase the firm’s work.
There, the Open Space program has invested $500,000 in the site with new parking areas, public access to Great Egg Harbor. Further, it will provide linkage to the bike facility on the Garden State Parkway Bridge next to the traffic lanes that link to Route 52 causeway leading into Ocean City.
With the growing interest in bike paths, the logo project will, Gimeno noted, help to identify and unify all the paths while adding information for visitors as to where businesses are located and where restrooms may be found.
“I understand $136,000 seems like a big investment,” Gimeno said. “We have not put money into marketing for generating awareness since 1989. It represents only 2 percent of what we bring in on an annual basis. I would encourage you to look at this as an investment in the program and an investment in the public and their awareness, and also it will do a lot to create a unified design and raise awareness of the program.”
The program will help visitors see that “there is a recurring theme” said Freeholder Will Morey. “That is part of our commitment to Open Space.”
The program further would aid a municipality that lacks a strong identity by showing what types of bike racks, benches and trash receptacles the county uses in its program.
Morey, in response to a comment by Thornton that the program has no problem being used by municipalities and organizations, said the program would show taxpayers, “Their hard-earned dollars were invested wisely…It’s about enhancing the quality of life,” Morey said.
“Couldn’t we do this in-house for less than $136,000,” asked Thornton.
“I don’t believe so,” Gimeno replied. She cited the fact that the contract is “not to exceed” the $136,000 figure “Unless we loved it and decided to expand, there is no opportunity for them to come at us for more money,” she added.
After reassurances by Morey and Gimeno, Thornton said he “felt better” about the program.
Gimeno lauded the Open Space board and its volunteers.
“We are very careful with taxpayer funds,” said Gimeno. “We go through each project line by line investing money where we should.”
Background on the Open Space Program
(Source: Cape May County website)
Open Space & Farmland Preservation
Trust Fund
On Nov. 9, 1989, the voters of Cape May County approved by a 2-1 margin a ballot question endorsing the establishment of a trust fund to preserve open space and agricultural land.
The trust is funded by a County property tax of one cent per $100 of assessed valuation and currently generates approximately $1.3 million a year. Since its inception, the program has preserved approximately 4,000 acres of open space and farmland (almost five square miles).
Expansion
Beginning Jan. 1, 2013, the Open Space Program was expanded to include Park/Recreation Development and Historic Preservation Projects.
