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15. STREET NAME CHANGE: PART OF LIARD
STREET CHANGEMENT DE NOM DE RUE : PARTIE DE LA RUE LIARD |
Committee
recommendation
That Council enact a by-law to change the street name of
a part of Liard Street, located southeast of Fernbank Road, to Hartsmere Drive,
as shown on Document 1.
Recommandation DU Comité
Que le Conseil adopte un règlement municipal visant à modifier le nom de
rue d’une partie de la rue Liard, située au sud-est du chemin Fernbank, à
promenade Hartsmere, comme le montre le document 1.
Documentation
1.
Deputy
City Manager's report, Infrastructure
Services and Community Sustainability, dated 9 November 2011 (ACS2011-ICS-PGM-0219).
Report
to/Rapport au :
Comité de l'urbanisme
and Council / et au Conseil
09 November 2011 / le 09 novembre 2011
Submitted by/Soumis
par : Nancy Schepers, Deputy City
Manager,
Directrice municipale adjointe, Infrastructure
Services and Community Sustainability, Services d'infrastructure et Viabilité des
collectivités
Contact
Person/Personne ressource : Arlene Grégoire, Director/Directrice,
Building Code Services/Direction des services code du bâtiment,
Planning
and Growth Management/Urbanisme et Gestion de la croissance
(613)
580-2424 x 41425, arlene.gregoire@ottawa.ca
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SUBJECT: |
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OBJET : |
REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That the Planning Committee recommend Council enact a by-law to change
the street name of a part of Liard Street, located southeast of Fernbank Road,
to Hartsmere Drive, as shown on Document 1.
RECOMMANDATION DU
RAPPORT
Que le Comité de
l’urbanisme recommande au Conseil d’adopter un règlement municipal visant à
modifier le nom de rue d’une partie de la rue Liard, située au sud-est du
chemin Fernbank, à promenade Hartsmere, comme le montre le document 1.
BACKGROUND
A part of “Liard Street”, located at the intersection of Fernbank Road, abruptly becomes “Hartsmere Drive” in the absence of an intersection. When turning onto Liard Street, from Fernbank Road driving in a south-eastern direction past the four dwellings on Liard Street, the civic property number and street name changes from 360 Liard Street to 10 Hartsmere Drive in mid‑street. There is no blade sign to identify that the street had changed names since there is no intersection at this location.
However, more problematic is that members of the public have indicated that motorists driving along Fernbank Road are often having difficulty finding Hartsmere Drive since Fernbank Road only intersects with Liard Street and not Hartsmere Drive. There is a concern that emergency services may have the same difficulty finding Hartsmere Drive and this could have tragic consequences. This anomaly occurred in 2002 when approval of the plan of subdivision for the West Wind development resulted in the connection of a new street in the development, to be called Hartsmere Drive, to the existing cul-de-sac at the end of Liard Street. Hartsmere Drive is not a through street and terminates at a dead-end as illustrated on Document 2. The primary route to entering the street is traveling southeast from Fernbank Road, at the intersection with Liard Street.
DISCUSSION
The Municipal Act authorises a municipality to establish and maintain street names and civic numbers for the clear identification of property and building units. As a partner in the Public Emergency Reporting System 911 program, the City of Ottawa is also required to ensure clear and accurate address information for ease of property identification and wayfinding and to assist emergency services in the efficient location of individuals in an emergency. The Municipal Addressing By-law Number 2005-322 states that street name changes are generally only considered if the existing name poses a safety hazard. The purpose of this provision is to:
·
limit the disruption for those directly
affected having to notify contacts and services;
·
lessen the impact on public and private
sector agencies, such as Elections Ontario, Canada Post, Rogers and Bell Canada
that maintain a database of addresses.
The situation whereby Hartsmere Drive was joined to Liard Street in the absence of an intersection is contrary to the City’s mandate to promote public safety and assist emergency services in the efficient location of individuals in an emergency through clear and accurate address information. It is important to ensure street names are easy to visibly identify as there is always the possibility that a Global Position System unit can fail. Any delay in responding to an emergency could potentially have tragic consequences.
It is therefore recommended that part of Liard Street be renamed Hartsmere Drive, as illustrated on Document 1. This is the most effective and efficient resolution to the problem, since there are only four dwellings affected by the proposed change. These can be logically renumbered 2, 4, 6 and 8 Hartsmere Drive respectively as the first dwelling on the current Hartsmere Drive is number 10. The alternative is to rename and renumber 114 residences on Hartsmere Drive to Liard Street which will affect far more households. Furthermore, this option would also have a bigger financial impact with respect to the replacement of eight intersection blade signs instead of two blade sign replacements. The replacement of the two blade signs can be covered through the City’s budget for sign maintenance.
It is recognized that changing a street name does have an impact on residents as they will be required to update their address with a number of services and personal contacts, as well physically changing the numbering that is on the front of their dwellings. In addition, this initiative will also have an impact on agencies that maintain address databases.
Building Code Services Branch will circulate a notice updating the new address information to primary public and private sector agencies, which include City departments and utilities, including the City’s water billing group and Hydro One and other agencies such as Rogers, Bell and Bell 911, Canada Post, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, Enbridge, Elections Canada, Elections Ontario and the local school boards, among others. A by-law for the renaming of the street will have to be adopted by City Council and then registered to formalize the street name change. The cost of registering the by-law is $71.30.
This notice should assist residents and primary public and private sector agencies in making the transition. Residents are also encouraged to update their address with services such as Rogers and Bell, which in many cases can be done at no cost, to ensure there is no disruption or delays receiving bills. Many other services such as banks have websites where residents can update their address information at their convenience. The Land Registry Office has advised that the only valid information on a deed is the legal description of the land and that a change in the civic street name and number will not affect a deed’s validity.
Because this renaming is a matter of public safety, it is recommended that the new street name take effect as soon as possible. However, to assist the affected four households further, it is recommended that the implementation date for the new street name not take effect until March 1, 2012. This will provide those residents with at least two months to update their new address with contacts and services.
RURAL IMPLICATIONS
N/A
CONSULTATION
In September 2011, a letter was sent to each of the four affected dwellings advising those residents of the proposal and soliciting their comments. Three households support the proposal and one has objected because of the concern about the time and expense of changing addresses with utilities, services and personal contacts. They also felt they would need to pay for a new deed for their property.
In keeping with the legislative notification requirements, a bilingual notice was placed on Ottawa.ca for a period of 14 days. There were no further objections.
COMMENTS BY THE WARD COUNCILLOR(S)
Councillor Qadri supports the recommendation. He indicated that he was approached by a
resident directly involved with this. This
anomaly, in his mind, was causing confusion and not to mention, a possible
significant safety issue. Liard Street used to be a cul-de-sac but was
opened up as a through street when the development of West Wind Farms went in.
As the first new home on Hartsmere Drive started at 10 Hartsmere Drive,
it was felt that it should not be difficult for the City of Ottawa to use 2, 4,
6, and 8 Hartsmere Drive as the new addresses for the four homes currently
listed on Liard Street. By doing this, it will certainly avoid any
further confusion.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no legal implications associated with this report.
RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
N/A
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The replacement of the two blade signs will be funded from within Public Works’ sign maintenance budget.
The cost of registering the
by-law is $71.30, which would typically be funded through the street name
change application fee. As no fee will be collected, the associated cost will
be funded from within Building Code Services – Other Permit and Compliance
Reporting budget, and may impact Planning and Growth Management’s 2011 operating
status.
ACCESSIBILITY
IMPACT
The recommendations have neither potential positive or negative impact specifically on people with disabilities and seniors.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
N/A
TECHNOLOGY IMPLICATIONS
N/A
CITY STRATEGIC PLAN
The recommendation is consistent with Objective 1 of the Transportation Priority of the City Strategic Plan in that it alleviates a problem area of safety, provides connections for the efficient movement of goods, and connects communities.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Document 1 Location Map - part of Liard Street
Document 2 Location Map - Location of Hartsmere Drive
DISPOSITION
1.
City Manager’s Office, City Clerk and
Solicitor Department, Legal Operations and Support
Services Branch to draft and
process the necessary by-law for Council passage.
2.
City Operations Portfolio, Public Works
Department, Road and Traffic Operations and Maintenance Branch, on request by
the Building Code Services Branch, to fabricate and install the replacement
street blade signs.
LOCATION MAP - LOCATION OF
HARTSMERE DRIVE DOCUMENT 2
