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POLICY #2018-08-24
MUNICIPALITY OF THE COUNTY OF PICTOU
PRIVATE ROADS NAMING POLICY
1. PURPOSE
1.1.
To provide for a standardized means of naming municipal streets and
private roads, both to prevent duplication, and to improve access to
emergency responder services.
2.
LEGAL AUTHORITY
2.1.
The Municipal Government Act of Nova Scotia, S.N.S. 1998 c 18 Section
313 (1)(c)
3.
DEFINITIONS
3.1.
In this policy:
3.1.1.
"Civic Addressing Coordinator" means the GIS Technician unless another
person is so appointed by the Chief Administrative Officer to administer this
Policy;
3.1.2.
"Chief Administrative Officer" means the Chief Administrative Officer of the
Municipality
3.1.3.
"civic number" means the number assigned to a building pursuant to the
Municipality's Civic Addressing By-Law or as specified by the Civic
Addressing Coordinator;
3.1.4.
"majority" 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.
3.1.5.
"Municipality" means the Municipality of the County of Pictou;
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3.1.6.
"municipal street" means "street" as defined in Part XII of the Municipal
Government Act, and excludes provincial highways;"
3.1.7.
owner" means a part owner, joint owner, tenant in common or joint tenant
of the whole or any part of land or a building, in the case of the absence or
incapacity of the person having title to the land or building, a trustee, an
executor, a guardian, an agent, a mortgagee in possession or a person
having the care or control of the land or building, a person who occupies
shores, beaches or shoals, and in the absence of proof to the contrary, the
person assessed for the property;
3.1.8.
"private road" means any street, road, lane, bridge or other thoroughfare
accessible to motor vehicles which is not a provincial highway or municipal
street and which either:
3.1.8.1. 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
3.1.8.2. which the Civic Addressing Coordinator otherwise determines should be
assigned a name to facilitate emergency response services or other public
purposes.
3.1.9.
"provincial highways" means any public street, highway, road, lane,
sidewalk or thoroughfare owned by the Province of Nova Scotia;
4.
ROAD NAMES RECORDS
4.1.
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
Municipality
with
accompanying map, plan or other graphic representation.
5.
COORDINATION
5.1.
The Civic Addressing Coordinator will be responsible for the administration
of this Policy, for the technical evaluation of proposed new road names in
the Municipality, and for the dissemination of information to affected persons
concerning any new or changed road names.
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6.
PRIVATE ROADS
6.1.
When a change to a 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:
6.1.1.
in the Coordinator's opinion, the proposed road name does not conform with
road naming standards and guidelines as prescribed in Section ; or
6.1.2.
the applicant does not confirm to the Coordinator's satisfaction that majority
approval has been obtained.
6.2.
The Civic Addressing Coordinator shall initiate the naming or renaming of a
given private road when:
6.2.1.
it comes to the attention of the Coordinator that an existing private road is
unnamed;
6.2.2.
a new private road is otherwise created or comes to the attention of the
Coordinator; or
6.2.3.
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.
6.3.
When the Civic Addressing Coordinator initiates the naming or renaming of
a private road under section 6.2:
6.3.1.
unless the Coordinator has reason to believe that majority approval cannot
be
obtained for a private road name, the Coordinator shall consult
residents or owners on the private road with a view to obtaining majority
approval for a private road name that conforms to Section and shall select
and approve such a road name; and
6.3.2.
otherwise he shall select and approve a road name from a list of proposed
names pre-approved by Council and included in Schedule A of this Policy.
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6.4.
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 Section 12 of this policy.
7.
MUNICIPAL STREETS
7.1.
Municipal streets which are created pursuant to the subdivision process,
shall be assigned names in accordance with the process outlined in Section
6 above for private roads.
7.2.
New unnamed municipal streets shall be named by the Civic Addressing
Coordinator using a name which conforms with Section 12 or which is taken
from Schedule A of this policy.
7.3.
Notwithstanding section 7.2 of this Policy, Council may name a new
municipal street, provided that it obtains the advice of the Civic Addressing
Coordinator to ensure conformity to Section
7.4.
The Civic Addressing Coordinator shall initiate the naming of new municipal
streets before their actual construction, if possible.
7.5.
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 will be outweighed by
the benefit in avoiding confusion or duplication in the naming of streets and
roads.
8.
ROAD RESERVES
8.1.
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 6 for private roads.
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9.
NOTIFICATION
9.1.
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 to the appropriate
agencies. These agencies should include:
9.1.1.
The Emergency Measures Organization;
9.1.2.
Affected residents;
9.1.3.
Emergency Health Services (Ambulance Dispatch);
9.1.4.
All applicable 911 dispatch services;
9.1.5.
All applicable fire and police services;
9.1.6.
Water Utility, if applicable;
9.1.7.
Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Public Works;
9.1.8.
Land Information Centre and/or Registry of Deeds;
9.1.9.
Canada Post;
9.2.
Notification to agencies in section 9.1.1-9.1.9 may be provided through
updating The Nova Scotia Civic Address File or other provincial road names
database which is being compiled and made available to the Municipality
from time to time.
10.
OTHER JURISDICTIONS
10.1.
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.
11.
PRESUMPTION IN CASES OF COMMON OR JOINT OWNERSHIP
11.1.
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.
12.
ROAD NAMING STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES
12.1.
All new private road and municipal street names shall conform with the
following principles:
12.1.1.
Avoid duplication - there should be no duplication of road names and
numbers used as names should be avoided. It is also preferable not to
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differentiate road and street names exclusively by selecting a different road
type.
12.1.2.
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.
12.1.3.
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 Municipality and, if possible, in adjoining municipalities.
12.2.
In particular, the following standards shall be applied:
12.2.1.
Road names should be:
12.2.1.1. easy to pronounce;
12.2.1.2. comprised of recognizable words or acceptable combination of words;
12.2.1.3. easy to spell for a person with intermediate reading level;
12.2.1.4. take into account any long-standing local usage of name or words used in
the name;
12.2.1.5. in good taste;
12.2.1.6. contain only those special characters which can be electronically recorded
and manipulated with ease using varying conventional software, and shall
exclude stylized symbols found in the Latin 1 ASCII set, for example, #, %,
etc.
12.3.
Qualifying words such as Upper, Lower, New, Old, etc., should be avoided
unless the qualifying word has been applied in some other official context.
12.4.
All names must have an associated road type
12.5.
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.
12.6.
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.
12.7.
There will be no duplication of road names within the and, if possible,
duplication of names with names used in immediately adjoining municipal
units should be avoided.
12.8.
Road names, including abbreviated road type, shall have no more than 35
characters.
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12.9.
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.
12.10.
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.
12.10.1. Formal titles of distinction, such as Captain, Major, Admiral, etc., should be
avoided.
12.11.
Company or commercial product names and names associated with
copyright or trademarks should be avoided.
12.12.
Names containing words in languages other than English, French, and
Mi'kmaw should be avoided except where a proper noun is used.
12.13.
Words should be spelled correctly and names with mixed language should
be avoided except to the extent of always using an English [or French] road
type.
13.
REPEAL
13.1.
All other policies regarding private road naming are hereby repealed.