Policy on Naming Municipal Streets and Private Roads — full text

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Town of Mulgrave Policy on Naming Municipal Streets and Private Roads Title: 1. This Policy is entitled the "Policy on Naming Municipal Streets and Private Roads". Definitions: 2. In this Policy: (1) "majority approval" means agreement amongst more than one-half of the residential households which are required to have a civic address on the private road or municipal street (or portion thereof) in question, provided that if there are no such existing residences, majority approval shall be determined by reference to the owners of lots adjacent to the private road or municipal street; (2) "municipal street" means "street" as defined in Part XII of the Municipal Government Act, and excludes provincial highways; (3) "private road" means any street, road, lane, bridge or other thoroughfare accessible to motor vehicles which is not a municipal street or provincial highway and which either: (a) serves as a principle vehicular access to three or more lots or buildings subject to civic addressing pursuant to provincial or municipal legislation or subordinate legislation; or (b) is identified geographically on a final plan of subdivision filed after the effective date of this policy, whether or not it is then physically in existence; or (c) which the Town of Mulgrave's Civic Addressing Coordinator otherwise determines should be assigned a name to facilitate emergency response service or other public purposes. (4) "provincial highways" means any public street, highway, road, lane, sidewalk or thoroughfare owned by the Province of Nova Scotia; (5) "road names", when used without additional qualification in this Policy means the names of private roads and municipal streets and excludes Provincial highways unless the contrary is stated; (6) "road naming standards or guidelines" means the standards and guidelines in Schedule "A" to this Policy and such other standards and guidelines promulgated by the Town of Mulgrave, or by the Province of Nova Scotia and accepted by the Town of Mulgrave, from time to time; (7) other words used have the same meaning as in governing provincial or municipal legislation or subordinate legislation from time to time unless the context indicates otherwise. Interpretation: Town of Mulgrave Policy & Procedures Manual Policy on Naming of Municipal Streets and Private Roads Adopted by Council: March 2, 2009 Page 2 of 7 Civic Addressing Coordinator 3. The Town of Mulgrave designates the building/fire inspector as its Civic Addressing Coordinator. Road Names Records 4. The Civic Addressing Coordinator shall keep or supervise the keeping of a comprehensive road names information record or system identifying all road names (including Provincial highways) in the Town of Mulgrave with accompanying map, plan or other graphic representation. Coordination 5. The Civic Addressing Coordinator will be responsible for the administration of this Policy, for the technical evaluation of proposed new road names in the Town of Mulgrave, and for the dissemination of information to affected persons concerning any new or changed road names. Subdivision Applications 6. The Town of Mulgrave's Development Officer shall refer every tentative or final subdivision application that involves the creation of a new private road or municipal street or the proposed renaming of a private road or a lengthening, reduction or other change to a private road or municipal street to the Civic Addressing Coordinator. An approval by the Coordinator must be given to any such final subdivision plan before approval is given by the Development Officer for such a plan. Private Roads 7. When a subdivision application contains a proposed new or changed private road name, or a new private road name request is otherwise requested by residents or owners, the Civic Addressing Coordinator may reject any proposed private road names if: (1) in the Coordinator's opinion, the proposed road name does not conform with road naming standards and guidelines; or (2) the applicant does not confirm to the Coordinator's satisfaction that majority approval has been obtained. 8. The Civic Addressing Coordinator shall initiate the naming or renaming of a private road when: (1) it comes to the attention of the Coordinator that an existing private road is unnamed; (2) a new private road is created or proposed to be created pursuant to a tentative or final plan of subdivision and the subdivision applicant has not been able to confirm a name for the private road which has obtained majority approval; (3) a new private road is otherwise created or comes to the attention of the Coordinator; or Town of Mulgrave Policy & Procedures Manual Policy on Naming of Municipal Streets and Private Roads Adopted by Council: March 2, 2009 Page 3 of 7 (4) it comes to the attention of the Coordinator that a private road has a name assigned to it which, in the opinion of the Coordinator, does not conform with road naming standards or guidelines, provided, however, that the Coordinator shall not be obligated to initiate the renaming of a private road under this subsection unless, in the Coordinator's opinion, the cost, confusion and disturbance of the renaming of the road will be outweighed by the benefit in avoiding confusion or duplication in the naming of private roads. 9. When the Civic Addressing Coordinator initiates the naming or renaming of a private road under section [8]: (1) unless the Coordinator has reason to believe that majority approval cannot be obtained for a private road name, the Coordinator or designate shall consult residents or owners on the private road with a view to obtaining majority approval for a private road name that conforms to road name standards or guidelines and shall select and approve such a road name; and (2) otherwise, he shall select and approve a road name from a list of proposed names pre- approved by Council, in the same manner as described in section 12 for municipal streets. 10. By a petition showing 75% majority approval, residents may seek to rename a private road. The Civic Addressing Coordinator will evaluate the proposed new name and may approve the renaming of a private road in respect of which the Coordinator is satisfied the petition is valid and the proposed new road name conforms to road naming standards and guidelines. Municipal Streets 11. Municipal streets which are created pursuant to the subdivision process shall be assigned names in accordance with the process outlined above for private roads. 12. All other or new unnamed municipal streets shall be named by the Civic Addressing Coordinator using a name which conforms to road naming standards or guidelines and which is taken from a list of prospective road names which shall be pre-approved by Council and the Coordinator's selection shall be the approved road name for that street. 13. Notwithstanding section 12 of this Policy, Council may name a new municipal street, provided that it obtains the advice of the Civic Addressing Coordinator to ensure conformity with the road naming standards or guidelines. 14. The Civic Addressing Coordinator shall initiate the naming of new municipal streets before their actual construction, if possible. 15. Only Council may rename an existing municipal street. The Civic Addressing Coordinator may initiate a request to Council to rename a municipal street if, in the Coordinator's opinion, the existing name does not conform with the road naming standards or guidelines, provided, however, that the Coordinator shall not be obligated to initiate a request to Council to rename a municipal street unless, in the Coordinator's opinion, the cost, confusion or disturbance of the renaming of the street Town of Mulgrave Policy & Procedures Manual Policy on Naming of Municipal Streets and Private Roads Adopted by Council: March 2, 2009 Page 4 of 7 will be outweighed by the benefit in avoiding confusion or duplication in the naming of streets and roads. Road Reserves 16. The Civic Addressing Coordinator may initiate the naming of a road reserve if, in the opinion of the Coordinator, the naming of the reserve would avoid confusion, discontinuities or duplication or serve other public purposes. In naming a road reserve, the Coordinator will follow the process detailed in section 9 for private roads. Notification 17. Upon a new private road name or municipal street being approved by Council or the Civic Addressing Coordinator, as the case may be, the Coordinator shall forward a road name notification with an attached map or graphic representation identifying with precision the beginning and end points of the road or street and its intersection or junction with any other road or street to: (1) The Emergency Measures Organization; (2) Affected residents (3) Emergency Health Services (Ambulance Dispatch); (4) All applicable 911 dispatch services; (5) All applicable fire and police services; (6) Water Utility, if applicable; (7) Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal; (8) Land Information Centre and/or Registry of Deeds; (9) Canada Post; (10) The Nova Scotia Civic Address File or other provincial road names database which is being compiled and made available to the Town of Mulgrave from time to time. Other Jurisdictions 18. The Civic Addressing Coordinator shall be responsible for reviewing and evaluating any requests from other municipal units or the provincial or federal government for input concerning the renaming of roads or streets under their jurisdiction. Presumption in Cases of Common or Joint Ownership 19. In administering this policy, it shall be presumed that one resident of a household (or one owner) speaks on behalf of all household residents (or co-owners) unless the Civic Addressing Coordinator has information to the contrary. Town of Mulgrave Policy & Procedures Manual Policy on Naming of Municipal Streets and Private Roads Adopted by Council: March 2, 2009 Page 5 of 7 SCHEDULE "A" Road Naming Standards and Guidelines 1. All new private road and municipal street names shall conform to the following principles: (1) Avoid duplication - there should be no duplication of road names and numbers used as names should be avoided. It is also preferable not to differentiate road and street names exclusively by selecting a different road type, for example, Portland Road and Portland Drive. (2) Avoid confusion - road names that sound very similar should be avoided. The reason for avoiding similar or similar sounding names is to eliminate diction problems when people are reporting road names under stress. (3) Establish continuity - a road running in one compass direction should have one name only and should have the same name throughout its entire length in the Town of Mulgrave and, if possible, in adjoining municipalities. 2. In particular, the following standards shall be applied: (1) Road names should be: (a) easy to pronounce; (b) comprised of recognizable words or acceptable combination of words; (c) easy to spell for a person with intermediate reading level; (d) take into account any long-standing local usage of name or words used in the name; (e) in good taste; (f) contain only those special characters which can electronically recorded and manipulated with ease using varying conventional software, and shall exclude stylized symbols, for example, #, %, etc. Certification for Town of Mulgrave Policy & Procedures Manual: Date of notice to Council Members of Intent to Consider [7 Day minimum]: February 16th, 2009 Date of Passage of Current Policy: March 2nd, 2009 I certify that this Policy on Naming of Municipal Streets and Private Roads was adopted by Council as indicated above. ____________________________ ________________________ Municipal Clerk Date Town of Mulgrave Policy & Procedures Manual Policy on Naming of Municipal Streets and Private Roads Adopted by Council: March 2, 2009 Page 6 of 7 (2) Qualifying words such as Upper, Lower, New, Old, etc., should be avoided unless the qualifying word has been applied in some other official context (for example as found in the Nova Scotia Gazetteer); (3) All names must have an associated road type (i.e. road, street, crescent) (4) Road names should be alpha-numeric and name submissions using a numeric should be rejected: for example, "First Street" would be acceptable, but "1st Street" should not be accepted. (5) Where a new road is a continuation of an existing road, wherever possible the new road will be given the same name as the existing road. (6) There will be no duplication of road names within the Town of Mulgrave and, if possible, duplication of names with names used in immediately adjoining municipal units should be avoided. (7) Road names, including abbreviated road type, shall have no more than 35 characters. (8) If the road is named after a topographic feature or place name, the name should reflect the official name as found in the Nova Scotia Gazetteer. (9) A personal name (a combination of given name and surname) should not be applied to a municipal street unless such application is in the public interest. The person commemorated should have contributed significantly in the area in which the road is located. The adoption of a personal name during the lifetime of the person concerned should only be made in exceptional circumstances. Formal titles of distinction, such as Captain, Major, Admiral, etc., should be avoided. (10) Company or commercial product names and names associated with copyright or trademarks should be avoided. Town of Mulgrave Policy & Procedures Manual Policy on Naming of Municipal Streets and Private Roads Adopted by Council: March 2, 2009 Page 7 of 7