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MUNICIPALITY OF THE COUNTY OF ANNAPOLIS POLICY AND
ADMINISTRATION MANUAL
POLICY 126
Road Naming
1. GENERAL
This policy is referred to as the "Road Naming Policy" and shall apply within the Municipality
of the County of Annapolis.
2. AUTHORITY FOR POLICY
Section 313 of the Municipal Government Act provides authority for bylaws and policies
relating to civic addresses. It states in Sub-section 313(c) that council may by policy name
or rename any street or private road.
3. DEFINITIONS
Except as provided below, terms used in this policy shall have the same meaning as in the
Municipal Government Act, or as their context applies according to a dictionary of the English
language.
"Addressable Point" means any physical location of ongoing human activity that is
accessible by emergency vehicles.
"Affected Residents" means residents living at a civic address or persons owning property
with a civic address on a street or road under consideration for naming or renaming,
(including businesses).
"Private Road" means a road accessible by regular vehicles that provides access to three
or more addressable points that is not owned by the province or the municipality.
"Road" has the same meaning as "Street" in the Municipal Government Act.
4. POLICY INTENT
The intent of this policy is to provide a consistent approach to road naming or renaming to
achieve a reasonable outcome.
Naming of roads is subject to statutory and regulatory requirements and procedures, as well
as established practices of the province and the municipality.
5. CIVIC ADDRESS COORDINATOR RESPONSIBILITIES
Any employee or employees designated by the CAO may carry out the responsibilities of
Civic Address Coordinator.
The Civic Address Coordinator shall:
- administer this policy;
- evaluate requests to name or rename roads and prepare documents going to Committee
of the Whole (COTW) for approval by Municipal Council;
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MUNICIPALITY OF THE COUNTY OF ANNAPOLIS POLICY AND
ADMINISTRATION MANUAL
POLICY 126
Road Naming
- disseminate information to the emergency response agencies, provincial agencies,
affected residents, area councillor and any other agency deemed necessary concerning
any new or changed road names;
- ensure a comprehensive record is maintained of all road names (including provincial
highways) and community names in the Municipality which includes maps, plans or other
graphic representation through the Nova Scotia Civic Address File (NSCAF); and
- review, evaluate and prepare recommendation(s) in response to requests from other
municipalities, the provincial government or the federal government for naming or
renaming roads.
6. CRITERIA FOR ROAD NAMING
Unless otherwise stated in this policy, all road names shall conform to the Nova Scotia Civic
Address Users Guide - Road Naming Guidelines and procedures and the Best Practice for
the Maintenance of Spatial Civic Address Data. New names will be carefully reviewed to
minimize potential conflicts.
When naming or renaming a road, public safety concerns shall be the primary consideration.
The Civic Address Coordinator shall consider the name's uniqueness, continuity, and ease
of pronunciation, that is:
a) There shall be no duplication or near duplication of road names in the municipality;
b) There shall be no similar sounding names in the municipality, this will include names using
qualifying words such as North, South, East or West, Upper, Lower, etc.;
c) There shall be no distasteful or inappropriate names in the municipality;
d) Road continuity will be maintained, a road running in one compass direction will have one
name only and should have the same name throughout its entire length;
e) Personal names of individuals other than exceptional circumstances to commemorate
significant community contributions (not related to ownership of land) will not be accepted;
f) Formal titles of distinction associated with a personal name (i.e., Captain, Major,
Reverend, Doctor) will not be accepted;
g) No new names will contain numbers, special characters, decimals, hyphens apostrophes,
or punctuation of any kind;
h) New names shall not exceed thirty characters including spaces, (excluding suffix / road
type);
i) Company names, commercial product names or names associated with copyrights or
trademarks will not be accepted;
j) Long standing locally used names may be considered.
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MUNICIPALITY OF THE COUNTY OF ANNAPOLIS POLICY AND
ADMINISTRATION MANUAL
POLICY 126
Road Naming
Road name type (suffix) definitions will adhere to the Nova Scotia Civic Address File
(NSCAF) road type list of definitions. They exist to reflect and describe the road's character
(e.g., roadway function, length, and configuration). They must be consistent with the Nova
Scotia Civic Address User's Guide.
Road names that existed prior to the approval of this policy are hereby accepted unless
determined later that a change in name is necessary due to a public safety issue.
7. NAMING NEW ROADS
(PRIVATE ROAD, MUNICIPAL STREET OR ROAD RESERVES)
All new private roads, municipal roads or road reserves are to be designated and registered
by the developer who must have the names approved by the Civic Address Coordinator. The
applicant shall provide the Civic Address Coordinator with at least three proposed road
names. The Civic Addressing Coordinator will conduct the review of the names submitted by
following the preceding criteria for road naming. As a prerequisite to final subdivision
approval, the road name sign must be posted in compliance with road development
standards and signage requirements of the province and the municipality.
8. CHANGING ROAD NAMES
Changing an existing road name is to be discouraged. Changing the name of a road or street
has significant public safety implications and will only be considered in a limited number of
situations.
A road name change request will only be considered if:
a) There are valid public safety issues that affect the civic addressing system and/or the
E911 database;
b) Affected Residents have been adequately informed and ⅔ majority or greater support the
name changes through a survey conducted by the Civic Address Coordinator.
Road name changes are to be approved by Municipal Council.
9. REPEAL
AM-1.4.5 Road Naming and Community Adjustment Policy, adopted by Municipal Council of
the County of Annapolis on December 16, 2003, is hereby repealed.
Annotation for Official Policy Book
I certify that this policy was adopted by Municipal Council as indicated below:
Seven (7) Day Notice.................................................................................. Feb. 11, 2025
Council Approval ....................................................................................... Feb. 19, 2025
Chris McNeill Feb. 20, 2025
Chief Administrative Officer Date
At Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia