Title VII, Section 303 – Street Naming and Addressing Standards and Procedures

 

STREET ADDRESSES

 

Purpose:        The intent of this standard is to provide the requirements necessary for naming roads, numbering structures, and posting of road names and building addresses as required to promote the health and safety of those who live and work in the county. Such a system will enhance the ability of emergency vehicles to respond rapidly to calls, avoid delays in response, and reduce confusion and error in locating business places and residences.

 

Intent:        The intent of this standard is to establish minimum street signing, naming, and building numbering requirements to enable emergency responders to locate homes, businesses, and properties, avoid response delays and to facilitate responding emergency equipment.

 

Applicability: These addressing requirements are applicable throughout the unincorporated area of the county and apply to both public and private roads.

 

                                    Nothing contained herein shall prevent the County from numbering or renumbering addresses on a road, public or private, when it is deemed in the public’s safety to do so.

 

Changes to existing numbers or road or access route names may be initiated when a public safety agency finds there is a threat to public safety and transmits written documentation to the County Director of Emergency Services or designee (e.g. unable to locate in an actual emergency, likely to be unable to locate, inconsistent or duplicative naming or numbering, etc). For purposes of this procedure, a "public safety agency'' includes law enforcement, fire service, emergency medical service or emergency dispatch agencies.

 

SECTION A – Structure Numbering:

 

Addresses shall be assigned to reflect the road or access route name from which the primary driveway originates. The numbering should be as follows:

 

1.      Properties within a numbering area shall be numbered consecutively throughout the entire length of a street or access route bearing one name, disregarding intersections or changes of direction. Unimproved but proposed sections shall be included in the numbering.

 

2.      Properties shall be assigned numbers for each habitable structure that could be allowed to be built, based on the maximum potential use as determined by a parcel's current zone district.

 

3.      Even numbers shall be assigned to the right side and the corresponding odd numbers to the left side of the street, road, or access route, in the direction of progression. Peculiar street layout or topography, such as hairpin turns, may require minor variance to this procedure.

 

4.      More than one number shall be reserved for parcels where more than one unit is allowed by zoning, but only one number and street name shall be assigned to each building or separate main entrance of the parcel.

 

5.      The county shall assign the number closest to the main entrance (door or driveway).

 

6.      When, on a single parcel, there is more than one building or one main entrance, such as housing projects and shopping centers, letters, or suite numbers shall be used after the number for further identification.

 

a.      Apartment.  Designation for individual units within an apartment complex.

b.      Unit. Designation for individual units within a residential or commercial condominium complex or business complex.

c.      Space.  Designation for individual units within a mobile home, recreational vehicle, cabin or moorage development.

d.      Accessory structures. Accessory structures (as defined in the Zoning Ordinance) shall not be assigned an address.

 

7.      Display.  Visible address numbers are required by the California Fire Code, Section 901.4.4. Approved numbers or addresses shall be provided for all new and existing buildings in such a position as to be plainly visible and legible from the street or road fronting the property. Addresses shall comply with this standard, unless an alternate means or method has been approved by the authority having jurisdiction. The display of the assigned number shall meet the following standards :

 

a.      All address numbers shall be a minimum height of four (4) inches with a minimum one-half inch stroke, constructed of a durable material, and of a color that is contrasting to the background color. EXAMPLE: White trim with black numbers.

b.      Numbers shall be permanently affixed on a structure in clear view, unobstructed by trees or shrubs.

c.      Address numbers shall be displayed at each driveway entrance, and visible from both directions of travel along the road (either displayed on the adjacent mailbox or posted on a marker or sign post).

d.      All multi-family, multi-industrial, and multi-commercial occupancies shall identify individual units with numbers that are a minimum height of six (6)inches, affixed to the unit's front entrance door or immediately adjacent to it. All buildings with rear-door access shall identify that unit as stated above.

e.      Where multiple addresses required at a the intersection of a single access route or driveway and the "named road", each of the individual structures' address numbers (size described in a. above) shall be affixed to its own durable marker (metal or other non-destructive surface similar to a street-name sign) and each marker shall be affixed to a single metal post and visible from both directions of travel.

f.        All buildings with two or more units shall identify utility meters according to the unit being served. Numbers shall be a minimum of one (1) inch in height and be permanently affixed.

g.      Mailbox.  Individual mailboxes at the site shall be marked with the address using minimum one (1) inch high numbers and letters.

h.      The owner shall install and maintain the displayed address to continue compliance with the above sections.

 

SECTION B- ROAD NAMES:

 

Purpose:                 This section establishes standards for the naming or renaming of roads and the location of required signage. All roads shall have an official road name as set forth in this title for public health and safety. Driveways or courts giving access to three or more buildings must be given a separate street name .

 

Road Name Index: The Director of Emergency Services or designee shall maintain a Road Name Index to identify all official road names within the unincorporated portions of the county.

 

A road name shall be required for all unnamed roads that provide vehicular access to more than one lot of record or to one lot of record with more than two buildings or three or more dwelling units. Road naming shall occur either prior to a land division map being recorded, prior to issuance of a building permit, in conjunction with an application and petition from property owners located on the road, or when the Director of Emergency Services or designee or public safety agency official determines that an existing name assigned to a road or street creates confusion constituting a threat to public safety or contributes to a delay in response by emergency services.

 

In the event a new name is appropriate for rights-of-way where buildings or dwelling units have pre-existing addresses, the Director of Emergency Services or designee will provide a street naming and addressing recommendation to the property owners based on these guidelines. Owners of developed property shall be given 30 days to suggest up to five (5) alternate names for the street. If there is a consensus among property owners, and the name is otherwise consistent with these guidelines, the street shall be so named. In the absence of a consensus, or if the selected name(s)are inconsistent with these guidelines, then the Director of Emergency Services or designee shall select a new street name.

 

Road Names shall be based on the following criteria:

 

1.      Duplicate Road Names.  Road names shall not duplicate another road name used elsewhere in the unincorporated areas of the county or in an incorporated city. Similar sounding names are considered duplicate regardless of spelling.

 

2.      Language.  Road names in either English or a foreign language shall be grammatically correct and easy to pronounce and spell and shall not include the use of slang or profanity. The translations of non-English street names should be reviewed to ensure that offensive or derogatory names are avoided.

 

3.      Road Name Length.  Road names shall not be greater than 18 characters in length, to fit on a 36-inch sign blade.

 

4.      Road names shall not cause confusion with existing road names.

 

5.      Road names that are geographically misleading shall be avoided.

 

6.      Continuity. A road having a continuous alignment shall bear the same name, except in the following situations:

 

a.      If an otherwise continuous road is interrupted by a drainage channel, freeway, railroad or other major physical obstruction with no planned connection, the segments should have different names.

b.      Roads intersecting one another, or forming a deflection angle of greater than ninety degrees, should have different names.

 

7.      Extensions.  Road extensions shall bear the same name as the existing road.

 

8.      Future Connections. Roads or portions of roads to be connected in the future into a continuous alignment shall bear the same name.

 

9.      Prefixes.  Prefixes such as north and south, east and west, upper and lower, etc., should be avoided.

 

10. Loop Streets.  Loop streets will usually be called “Circle”.

 

11. Cul-de-sacs.  A cul-de-sac road having a maximum length of five hundred feet (500’) may use “court” as a suffix. Roads exceeding five hundred feet (500’) in length shall use a different suffix. Further, a cul-de-sac street may bear the same name as the street it intersects, providing that the suffix is “court” (usual) or “place” (e.g. a cul-de-sac opening on Oak Street may be called Oak Court or Oak Place).

 

SECTION C- RENAMING OF ROADS:

 

Changes to existing names may be initiated when the County Building Official or a public safety agency finds there is a threat to public safety and transmits written documentation to the County Building Official or designee (e.g. unable to locate in an actual emergency, likely to be unable to locate, inconsistent or duplicative naming or numbering, etc) .

 

1.      Whenever it is determined that the existing name of any county highway should be changed, the Director of emergency Services or designee shall hold a public hearing on the proposed name consistent with the provisions of Section 971 of the California Streets and Highways Code. For these purposes, a "county highway" is a road that has been adopted into the County road network pursuant to law, or a private road open to public travel or made available for access by public safety personnel.

 

2.      Nothing contained herein shall prevent the Director of Emergency Services or designee from renaming a road, public or private, when it is deemed in the public's safety to do so.

 

3.      Owners of developed property affected by a proposed street name change will be given 30 days to suggest up to five (5) alternate names for the street. If there is a consensus among property owners, and the name is otherwise consistent with these guidelines, the street shall be so named. In the absence of a consensus, or if the selected name(s) are inconsistent with these guidelines, then the Director of Emergency Services or designee shall select a new street name

 

4.      Street addresses will be assigned for a newly named road. Street addresses may be revised after a road name change to correct sequential or even/odd inconsistencies.

 

5.      For roads requiring a road name change where existing addresses do not conform to the provisions of this section, such addresses may be accepted if the sequence is in logical order and the addresses are approved by Director of Emergency Services or designee.

 

6.      The Director of Emergency Services or designee may determine that individual address posting consistent with this standard's house numbering sequence described in all parts (1 through 7) of Section A - STRUCTURE NUMBERING, adequately meets the intent of the standard and may be accepted in lieu of the road naming requirement (see Section A, 7. e.)

 

 

 

SECTION D- GENERAL PROVISIONS:

The following provisions shall apply:

           

1.      For the purpose of naming and addressing, private roads or access subject to travel are included under the jurisdiction of the Director of Emergency Services or designee.

 

2.      The Director of Emergency Services or designee has final authority to change addresses in the interest of public safety subject to the appeal provisions contained herein.