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Street Naming/Renaming
PURPOSE: The purpose of this agenda item is to provide the Town Council with information on renaming streets following recent requests to rename a street in recognition of Braxton Foushee
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Department
DEPARTMENT: Planning
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Contact
CONTACT INFORMATION: Trish McGuire, Planning Director, 919-918-7327, pmcguire@carrboronc.gov
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Council Direction
COUNCIL DIRECTION:
___ Race/Equity ____ Climate ____ Comprehensive Plan __X__Other
Council Direction Statement
Land Use Ordinance Section _15-223 and Town Code Section 7-32_ notes that street names are assigned by developers subject to permit issuing authority approval and describe requirements pertaining to the names of street types (i.e. suffixes), such as “Street,” “Circle,” and “Alley” and assignment of house and building numbers (Attachment A). Racial Equity pocket questions have been completed (Attachment B).
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Information
INFORMATION: On October 17, 2023, three speakers from the floor, Dave Mason, President of the Lincoln High School Alumni Association, Pat Mason, and Herman Murrell Foushee, presented requests to the Town Council to rename an existing street “Braxton Foushee Street” in recognition of current Planning Board member and past Board of Aldermen member (1969-1976) Braxton Foushee’s long-standing commitment to advancing civil rights and other community interests. Both N. Greensboro and Carr Streets were mentioned by the speakers as streets to consider for renaming. Council Members expressed support for Mayor Damon Seils to discuss this topic with the Town Manager. An overview of the renaming of streets is presented below.
Due to the burdens on individuals to change personal identification, accounts, and other materials when an address change occurs, street renaming is uncommon, occurring in the following circumstances:
1. 911 identifies a street name issue that presents a life-safety problem that needs to be rectified. This occurs when existing naming/numbering demonstrably impacts the accuracy of dispatching emergency responders causing delays in service. Staff initiate the renaming and communicate to all property owners the need to change and work with them to come up with a name they are in agreement with.
2. Property owners request a street renaming and work with staff to identify a street name that is not a duplicate in the Orange County 911 emergency dispatch service area. Once all property owners indicate agreement to the change, the change can go forward.
3. Town Council/formerly Board of Aldermen requests exploration of a change. Staff evaluates for conflicts/duplicates and a change can be made if it does not duplicate an existing name.
The council has requested the exploration of a change to the name of Carr Street to Braxton Foushee Street. Braxton Foushee is not a duplicate with any names in the 911 system. There are 45 addresses on Carr Street, 7 on E. Carr, and 38 on W. Carr. No contact has been made with residents or property owners of these streets.
Considerations. Addressing of infill lots and units is an ongoing aspect of land use and development management. In most cases, older areas of Town have not involved the reservation of addresses to accommodate subdivisions, let alone increases in density.
Staff are examining options for addressing as part of the Carrboro Connects’ goals and strategies regarding increases in residential density and other changes to land use. The Town has also recently received direction from the United States Postal Service regarding the naming and designation of streets, buildings, and units to use numbering only. Going forward, we will not be using letters to designate lots, buildings, apartment units, office suites, et cetera. Amendments related to addressing and the naming of neighborhood and developments will be included with other Comprehensive Plan implementation amendments in 2024.
If the Town considers renaming streets, particular attention could be given to certain ones that could significantly benefit from this, notably Estes Drive and NC Highway 54. These streets have multiple segments, diverse designations, and face issues with inconsistent address ranges and positioning across various zip code areas. Despite different physical addresses and locations on opposite sides of NC Highway 54, the consolidation of two apartment communities in recent years coupled with decision of the new owners to rename the communities as Berkshire Manor East and Berkshire Manor West has presented challenges to emergency service dispatching. These neighborhoods are separated by the median section. Staff requests to the owners to make the names distinct have to date been unsuccessful. Should other policy interests be identified, an assessment of existing street names could be completed in relation to the specified interest.
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Fiscal and Staff Impact
FISCAL IMPACT: Minimal with discussion of this topic. Varying staff time and other costs are related with making changes to street names depending on the number of street segments and addresses involved and with further assessing or changing street names. Related costs involve staff time, mailing costs, updating maps and data layers, and replacement signs among them.
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Recommendation
RECOMMENDATION: The staff recommendation is that direction be provided related to this matter.
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