Chamber to weigh in on signage issue

EP Chamber of Commerce group to meet with city officials to hammer out informational street signs

By John Molene

A task force put together by the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce is set to meet with city staff next week as efforts to improve Eden Prairie’s street signage continue.

Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce President Pat MulQueeny said the chamber is in the initial phase of getting a group together which will meet next week with city staff to examine which issues the group should be conscious of.

“We need to see what we might do that would be fine within the current ordinance,” said MulQueeny.

County, city, chamber, MnDOT and Eden Prairie Center officials have been wrestling with the wayfinding sign issue for some time. But steps are now being taken to find a way out.

* Late last fall, Eden Prairie Center installed 17 signs to direct drivers to Interstate 494, Highway 5, 212 and the future County Road 61.

* The city of Eden Prairie is putting up a half dozen temporary signs to complement the ones at EP Center. Then in July, when Highway 212 (Flying Cloud Drive) becomes County Road 61, the state will put up its own new signage.

The second part of the signage issue will be how best to guide drivers into Eden Prairie’s Major Center Area, and perhaps some informational signage at other parts of the city, said MulQueeny. The content of those signs is one of the stickier issues. City officials have expressed concerns over which stores may end up on the informational signs.

“We want to work with businesses and the city to make it easy to find businesses,” MulQueeny noted.

The chamber is looking at adding business locator signs around the Major Center Area, and possibly some other major Eden Prairie intersections such as in the Golden Triangle, MulQueeny said.

“Probably not a lot,” MulQueeny said. “Some in the Major Center Area and maybe – six to eight major intersections.”

“It’s never an easy answer on these things,” he added. “We need to get the discussion going and start getting things finalized down to more achievable outcome.”