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Policy:
Naming of Municipal Streets
Date Originally Approved:
May 22nd 2014
Motion:
"That the Naming of Municipal Streets Policy 2014 - 39 be approved as
presented; and
Further that the Policy be effective immediately."
This Policy is current as of:
May 22nd 2014
Policy Number: 2014 - 39
Policy Subject:
Naming of Municipal Streets
Policy Objective
To provide a process for the naming / renaming of Municipal Streets in the Town of
Stewiacke.
Interpretation
1. In this policy:
a) "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 and "75%
majority approval" has a corresponding meaning;
b) " municipal street" means "street" as defined in Part XII of the Municipal
Government Act, and excludes provincial highways;
c) "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:
i. 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
ii. is defined 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
iii. which the Town's Civic Addressing Coordinator otherwise determines
should be assigned a name to facilitate emergency response services or
other public purposes.
d) "provincial highways" means any public street, highway, road, lane, sidewalk or
thoroughfare owned by the Province of Nova Scotia;
e) "road names", when used without additional qualifications in this Policy means
the names of private roads and municipal streets and excludes Provincial
highways unless the contrary is stated;
f) "road naming standards or guidelines" means the standards and guidelines
promulgated by the Town, or by the Province of Nova Scotia and accepted by the
Town from time to time; and
g) 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.
Civic Addressing Coordinator
2. The Town of Stewiacke designates the Development Officer as its Civic Addressing
Coordinator.
Road Names Records
3. 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 with accompanying map, plan or other
graphic representation; wherever possible.
Coordination
4. The Civic Addressing Coordinator will be responsible for the administration of the
Policy, for the technical evaluation of proposed new roads in the Town, and for the
dissemination of information to affected persons concerning any new or changed road
names.
Subdivision Application
5. 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 must be reviewed by the
Civic Addressing Coordinator, prior to final subdivision approval.
Private Roads
6. 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:
a) in the Coordinator's opinion, the proposed road name does not conform with road
naming standards and guidelines; or
b) the applicant does not confirm to the Coordinator's satisfaction that majority
approval has been obtained.
7. The Civic Addressing Coordinator shall initiate the naming or renaming of a given
private road when:
a) it comes to the attention of the Coordinator that an existing private road is unnamed;
b) 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;
c) a new private road is otherwise created or comes to the attention of the Coordinator;
or
d) 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.
8. When the Civic Addressing Coordinator initiates the naming or renaming of a private
road under section 7:
a) 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 road name standards or guidelines and shall select and
approve such a road name; and
b) 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 11 for municipal
streets.
9. 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 with road naming
standards and guidelines.
Municipal Streets
10. Municipal streets which are created pursuant to the subdivision process shall be assigned
names in accordance with the process outlined above for private roads.
11. New unnamed municipal streets shall be named by the Civic Addressing Coordinator
using a name which conforms with the road naming standards or guidelines.
12. Notwithstanding section 11 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.
13. The Civic Addressing Coordinator shall initiate the naming of new municipal streets
before their actual construction, if possible.
14. 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.
Road Reserves
15. 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 8 for private roads.
Notification
16. 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)
Affected residents;
(2)
All applicable 911 dispatch services;
(3)
Canada Post;
(4)
The Nova Scotia Civic Address File or other provincial road names database
which is being compiled and made available to the Town from time to time.
Other Jurisdictions
17. 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
18. 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.
SCHEDULE "A"
Road Naming Standards and Guidelines
1. All new private road and municipal street names shall conform with the following
principles:
a) 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.
b) 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.
c) 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 and, if
possible, in adjoining municipalities.
2. In particular, the following standards shall be applied:
a) Road names should be:
i. easy to pronounce;
ii. comprised of recognizable words or acceptable combination of words;
iii. easy to spell for a person with intermediate reading level;
iv. take into account any long-standing local usage of name or words used in the
name;
v. in good taste;
vi. 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.
b) 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);
c) All names must have an associated road type and the road type should conform with
the road type criteria in the attached Road Type Schedule, but existing non-
conforming road types may be continued to avoid the cost, confusion and
disturbance of changing only a road type;
d) 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.
e) 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.
f) There will be no duplication of road names within the Town and, if possible,
duplication of names with names used in immediately adjoining municipal units
should be avoided.
g) Road names, including abbreviated road type, shall have no more than 35 characters.
h) 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.
i) 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.
Company or commercial product names and names associated with copyright or trademarks
should be avoided.
Names containing words in languages other than English, French, and Mi'kmaw should be
avoided except where a proper noun is used.
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.
Annotation's For Official Policy Book
Date of Council members Review May 22nd , 2014
Date of Passage of Current Policy: May 22nd , 2014
I certify that this Policy was adopted by Council as indicated above.
May 23rd , 2014
CAO / Clerk Date