Motorists entering Brookhaven on its major roads will soon be greeted by towering gateway monument signs that mark the city’s borders.
Construction began last month of the 20-foot-tall stacked stone signs on Johnson Ferry Road, Windsor Parkway and Ashford-Dunwoody Road. The signs are slated to be finished this month.
The gateway signs include the Brookhaven city seal and interchangeable banners that can promote special events, such as the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.
“We are proud of our city and want everyone to know when they are entering Brookhaven,” said City Manager Christian Sigman in a prepared statement. “These gateway monument signs will also be extremely helpful in promoting special events, which help bring visitors and revenue into our area.”
Two signs are being built on Johnson Ferry Road — one that will be seen by people entering the city from Chamblee and the other from people entering the city from Sandy Springs at Westcott Way.
Another sign is going up on Windsor Parkway across from Windsor Lake Drive, and another at the Ashford-Dunwoody Road and I-285 interchange.
The city plans to construct another sign on Peachtree Road at its border with Chamblee after gaining approval from the Georgia Department of Transportation. Peachtree Road is a state road requiring GDOT approval for such projects.
Cost for the signs totals $241,310 including a $31,507 contingency fee, according to city officials. They were funded by the newly formed Brookhaven Convention and Visitors Bureau using hotel-motel tax revenue.
The city set aside a $1 million budget for the new CVB last year after the General Assembly approved the city raising its hotel-motel tax from 5 percent to 8 percent. The increase was initiated to create a new revenue stream to fund the Peachtree Creek Greenway.
State law requires the new hotel-motel tax money be divided with 1.5 percent of the money going to fund a project to drive tourism to the city — the Greenway — and the other 1.5 percent going toward promotion and advertising of the Greenway.
Of the original 5 percent of the hotel-motel tax money, the state requires 2 percent of that funding be specifically spent on tourism, conventions and tradeshows with 3 percent able to be used in the city’s general fund.