SNOQUALMIE – Apparently a giant waterfall and some old trains aren’t enough.

The city of Snoqualmie is looking for other ways to bring people to the city and Roger Brooks of Destination Development wants to help.

The branding and marketing group for cities sent the representative to make a presentation before the Snoqualmie City Council at its Jan. 10 meeting.

Through much research, signage, themes and other branding tactics, Destination Development tries to boost tourism and economic development for cities by transforming them from ho-hum to on-the-map status.

For the most part, city officials were sold on the idea of working with Brooks, whose expertise comes with a $45,000-$65,000 price tag. Brooks said his work usually spurs a 600-percent return.

Destination Development is located in Olympia but does 99 percent of its work outside of Washington and has been around since 1980, helping to develop resorts such as Whistler in British Columbia and Ocean Shores on Washington’s coast. The group has worked in 260 cities in 37 states.

Brooks said one of Snoqualmie’s major downfalls is its lack-luster signage.

“Your dots aren’t very well connected,” Brooks said. “I’ve seen retail sales go up in towns with more signage. How many people on Snoqualmie Ridge even know what’s offered in Snoqualmie?”

Many businesses side with Brooks. Bank of America in Snoqualmie recently contacted the city complaining that business was slow at the bank due to its out of the way location and no signage along State Route 202. But a sign code, still in the making, aims to limit the unsightly and potentially unsafe sandwich boards.

“We need a sign code to make sure we don’t get ‘clutter’ and yet allow businesses to point to themselves to attract customers and locate their business,” said Snoqualmie Mayor Fuzzy Fletcher. “Council will have to get creative to help all businesses, not just Bank of America.”

Fletcher said the city has gained a coveted spot on Brooks’ calendar for talks about pricing and the scope of the project. A proposal to go with Brooks may be in front of the City Council sometime in February.

“The first thing we do is get a property map and contact businesses. We say, ‘the city is funding this to help you, you need to help us,'” Brooks said.

Destination Development starts by assessing a town like a visitor thinking of starting a business there would. The company then looks at studies the city has already done to figure out where the municipality wants to go and creates a plan.

City Councilman Nate Short said Brooks’ experience would be a major asset to the making of the city’s economic development plan because Brooks has worked with a lot of other cities similar in size and scope to Snoqualmie that have benefited greatly from his expertise.

“That’s the main thing I like about him, his experience and systematic approach,” Short said. “I know when it comes to marketing and development strategies like this, if you don’t have someone who knows what they’re doing, you can waste a lot of money.”

Another benefit the City Council saw in Brooks is his focus on implementing the plan, not just coming up with it and leaving it to the city.

Brooks is also expected to affect the style and appearance of future signs in the city, if hired. He may also develop a logo for Snoqualmie. Nancy Tucker, director of planning, said real estate signs have been the main culprit of the sandwich board madness.

“We’re trying to come up with provisions for real estate signs, which our code currently doesn’t address, that will allow for adequate signage for what realtors’ needs are, but still maintain an uncluttered streetscape and make sure we’re not creating safety hazards,” Tucker said.

Currently the signage code allows for sandwich boards for retail business within the historical district that don’t have frontage on State Route 202. But businesses have to apply for the right to place the signs on a first-come, first-serve basis.

“[Brooks] may have some recommendations as far as appropriate signage for way finding or directional signage and he may have some recommendations specifically related to retail business signage,” Tucker said. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

As for funding the Destination Development study, the city may go to the Lodging Tax Allocation Committee (L-TAC), which decides how to spend the lodging tax money the city receives from hotels and motels. That money is supposed to go toward increasing tourism.

Tucker said Destination Development is something that would qualify for lodging tax money, but the council has yet to decide if those funds should be used for this project or something else in the city.

The council is expected to decide on that after talks with Brooks sometime in February.

Staff writer Melissa Kruse can be contacted at (425) 888-2311 or by e-mail at melissa.kruse@valleyrecord.com