Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLN 23-20Report to Executive Committee Report Number: PLN 23-20 Date: November 2, 2020 From: Kyle Bentley Director, City Development & CBO Subject: Street Naming Policy -Council Endorsement -File: D-9610 Recommendation: 1.That Council endorse the Street Naming Policy, as set out in Appendix I to this report, subject to minor revisions acceptable to the Director, City Development & CBO; and 2.That the appropriate City of Pickering officials be authorized to take the necessary actions as indicated in this report. Executive Summary: The purpose of this report is to obtain Council’s approval of a formal, comprehensive policy for naming streets within the City of Pickering. A policy is required to ensure consistency in the naming of all street types in order to: deal with concerns relating to the naming and identification of private streets; recover costs associated with requests to add names to the City of Pickering’s Reserve List of Street Names; consolidate previous Council resolutions on the use of personal names such those of veterans or firefighters; and, establish municipal addressing for all condominium types. The draft policy was circulated to the “Policy Review Committee” and their comments have been incorporated in the attached document, (see Appendix I). It is recommended that Council approve the policy. Financial Implications: The implementation of the new policy would provide for cost recovery of applications to add names to the City of Pickering’s Reserve List of Street Names. Discussion: 1.Purpose of Street Names Street names are part of all municipal addresses within the City of Pickering. Street names are important for wayfinding and ensuring timely responses by police, fire and emergency medical services to emergencies. While the Region of Durham has an official procedure in place for approving street names in the Region, the City of Pickering currently has an unofficial procedure which is yet to be formalized into official policy. Report PLN 23-20 November 2, 2020 Subject: Street Naming Policy Page 2 2.Overview of Procedures for Street Naming Reservation of specific street names requires two levels of approvals. The City of Pickering initially approves the specific names submitted for use on a street within the City of Pickering, and those street names are then submitted to the Region of Durham for final approval. Once the approved street names have been added to the City’s Reserved List of Street Names, a developer can select street names from the Reserve List and designate them to new streets within their development, in accordance with the City’s development approval processes, such as the registration of a draft plan of subdivision. 3.Criteria for Selecting Street Names In light of the two step approval process for street names, the City has been working closely with the Region for years to ensure names are acceptable. Some key considerations are that: emergency services are readily able to respond to emergencies by ensuring names do not sound alike or are duplicated elsewhere in the Region; the names are easy to pronounce; the names do not confer a competitive advantage, benefit, or preferential treatment; and, from a practical perspective, names fit on a standard street sign. There were also restrictions on using proper names of individuals. Originally, the proper name of an individual could be used as a street name if that resident (living or deceased) had exhibited significant importance to Pickering’s heritage. However, in 2005, Council passed two resolutions expanding the criteria under which a proper name could be used as a street name. Council Resolution #12/05 spoke to the selection of veteran’s names for streets in Pickering and Council Resolution #55/05 spoke to the selection of firefighter’s names for streets in Pickering. The draft policy incorporates these free-standing resolutions along with other personal name standards used throughout Durham and the Greater Toronto Area into a single policy. 4.Requests to add Names to the Reserve List Although the City has an extensive list of names on our “Reserve List” (there are currently 282), some landowners prefer to suggest their own names. The process of vetting the names with the City and ultimately the Region is time consuming. Accordingly, staff has recently started charging a fee for this service. This fee is now referenced in the proposed policy and will be reviewed on an annual basis, and updated when necessary, as part of the budget process and Council’s consideration of its Summary of Fees and Charges. 5.Recent Challenges Within the past few years, three significant challenges have arisen: 1)an increase in more complex development forms (e.g., condominiums containing a number of private streets with units facing public and private streets as well as courtyards and green spaces); 2)increased requests from developers to use street suffixes set aside for public streets for use on private streets; and Report PLN 23-20 November 2, 2020 Subject: Street Naming Policy Page 3 3)increased requests from developers to have municipal addresses which do not utilize unit numbers on condominium developments. 5.1 Complex Housing Forms In regard to more complex forms of development and developer requests to assign municipal addresses (a street and house number) instead of utilizing unit numbers, City Development staff have, during the past three years, tried to accommodate developer requests by assigning municipal addresses on the more complex forms of development. Unfortunately, the results created more confusion for emergency response agencies and the general public. Complex development forms can have units facing private streets, public streets, courtyards, and green spaces. An example of such a development is the Averton Phase 1 Condominium development. Within this development, there are three different built forms: stacked townhouses; back-to-back townhouses; and, stacked back-to-back townhouses. The four stacked townhouse blocks within this development have no man-doors visible from any street, just garage doors; these units are accessed through the garage, or from an internal courtyard. Four of the stacked back-to-back townhouse blocks in the same development have some units accessed from a private street while other units are accessed from a public street. The two back-to-back townhouse blocks have units accessed from two different private streets. The two remaining stacked back-to-back townhouse blocks have some units with access from a private street while other units are accessed from a walkway that runs through what would traditionally be the backyard. In an effort to rectify this problem, City Development staff worked with Fire Services and developed a new standard operating procedure (SOP) for assigning civic numbers to properties. The new SOP for assigning civic numbers came into effect in March 2020. In spite of the new SOP, confusion continued to exist in relation to more complex development forms because street naming goes hand in hand with civic numbering. The creation of consistency between the civic numbering and street naming procedures will improve and simplify the review and management of these processes, make wayfinding more predictable, and improve response time to emergencies and municipal services inquiries. 5.2 Private Street Suffixes As the City started approving development with different types of streets, staff wanted the different types to be readily identifiable by the suffix used. For example, with the use of Back Lanes in Duffin Heights and Seaton, the suffix “Mews” was selected and will only be used for Back Lanes. In a similar manner, as the number of developments with Private Streets increased, staff wanted to use street suffixes that would distinguish the Private Streets from the Public Streets. Accordingly, staff followed an unofficial protocol to allow the selection of the suffix to be one of “Chase”, “Crossing”, or “Glen”. However, with the proliferation of private streets in the City, staff have been receiving more and more requests to assign suffixes set aside for public streets, for use on new private streets. Report PLN 23-20 November 2, 2020 Subject: Street Naming Policy Page 4 There are currently over 700 public streets in Pickering, with the potential of another 250 when Seaton is fully developed, and this does not account for the number of existing and new private streets. Municipal by-law enforcement and maintenance work on public streets is significant and ongoing. Using a specific street suffix to identify Private Streets ensures the City is not inadvertently overstepping its jurisdiction on a Private Street, and it also provides timely referrals to private land owners on reported issues related to Private Streets. It is therefore important that proper differentiation be made between public and private streets. Following research into best practices, and on a go-forward basis, staff is proposing that the differentiation between Private and Public Streets occur in two aspects: by using a different colour street name sign; and by limiting the suffix used for new Private Streets to one choice only: “Private”. Formalizing these approaches through this policy will create a consistent and standardized method for differentiating Public Streets from Private Streets. 5.3 House Numbers versus Unit Numbers on Condominium Developments The interest in naming internal Private Streets in condominium developments also arose from the developers’ and homeowners’ desires to have a “house” number instead of a “unit” number plus a street name as their address. As discussed in section 5.1 above, when a dwelling faced and had access from a public road, it appeared logical to create the municipal address based on our civic numbering convention and the name of the Public Street. But this approach was not successful for the more complex condominium developments, as described in the Averton example above. Through Council’s adoption of the recommendations of Report PLN 04 -19 on Civic Numbering, and the development of the related standard operating procedure, condominium developments will have one civic number representing the development’s location on the Public Street from which it has frontage and vehicular access, and will include reference to “Building”, “Floor” and “Unit” numbers as appropriate. Private Streets will be named for wayfinding purposes, not for the purpose of municipal addressing. 6.Staff Recommend that the Policy be forwarded to Council for adoption Staff consulted with internal departments including City Development (Planning & Design Division), Fire Services, Engineering Services, Community Services (Road Operations), Corporate Services (Municipal Law Enforcement Services, Legislative Services and Legal Services) during the formulation of the policy. It is recommended that the proposed Street Naming Policy, contained in Appendix I to Report PLN 23-20, be approved by Council for adoption. Appendix Appendix I Draft Street Naming Policy Report PLN 23-20 November 2, 2020 Subject: Street Naming Policy Page 5 Prepared By: Approved/Endorsed By: Jill McMullen Catherine Rose, MCIP, RPP Supervisor, Geomatics Chief Planner Déan Jacobs, MCIP,RPP Kyle Bentley, P. Eng. Manager, Policy & Geomatics Director, City Development & CBO JM:DJ:ld Recommended for the consideration of Pickering City Council Marisa Carpino, M.A. Interim Chief Administrative Officer Appendix I to Report PLN 23-20 Draft Street Naming Policy Policy Procedure Title: Street Naming Policy Policy Number ADM 220 Reference Resolution #XXX/20 Date Originated (m/d/y) November XX, 2020 Date Revised (m/d/y) "Click and type date" Pages 10 Approval: Interim Chief Administrative Officer Point of Contact Supervisor, Geomatics Policy Objective To implement a comprehensive policy on street naming including: criteria for selecting street names; consolidating previous Council Resolutions on the use of personal names; process and cost recovery and responsibilities for adding a street name to the Reserve List; assigning a street name; establishing a naming and signage convention for Private Streets; establishing municipal addressing for both standard condominiums and common element condominiums; and retiring street names. Index 01 Definitions 02 Street Naming 03 Street Name Signs 04 Changing Street Names 05 Names of Streets being stopped up and closed 01 Definitions 01.01 Back Lane – those Public Streets which are intended for or used by the general public for the passage of vehicles along the back yard of properties. 01.02 City – The Corporation of the City of Pickering. 01.03 Civic Number – the number assigned by the City to a property or building, which forms part of a Municipal Address. 01.04 Council – the Council of the Corporation of the City of Pickering. 01.05 Customers – property owners, developers, builders and Pickering residents or their representatives/agents. 01.06 Emergency Services – those members of the Police Services, Fire Services, Ambulance and Paramedic Services. Policy Title: Street Naming Policy Page 2 of 10 Policy Number: ADM 220 01.07 Geomatics Staff – the staff members within the Geomatics Subsection of the Policy and Geomatics Section of the City Development Department of the City. 01.08 Municipal Address – the Civic Number and Public Street name. 01.09 Pickering Firefighters – those members of the Pickering Fire Services. 01.10 Private Street – the lands which provide vehicular access to a development but is not owned or maintained by a public municipal, provincial or federal body. 01.11 Proper Names – the names of people, brand names and/or companies. 01.12 Public Street – a common and public highway, road, avenue, parkway, square, place, bridge, viaduct or trestle, any part of which is intended for or used by the general public for the passage of vehicles, and includes the area between the lateral property lines thereof. 01.13 Region – the Regional Municipality of Durham. 01.14 Reserve List – the list of reserved names that have already gone through all the approvals required for reserving the street name; these names can be used for any proposed Public or Private Street. 01.15 Street Name – the name and suffix assigned for each Public or Private Street within the City of Pickering. 01.16 Street Name Signs – the signs erected at the intersection of two of more streets and identifying those streets by displaying the names of the streets. 01.17 Street Suffix – words that follow a street name and that usually indicate the type of street configuration and or street direction. 01.18 War Dead – those persons who died or went missing in action while serving overseas in active military duty including in the Canadian Merchant Navy that served in a war zone as defined by the Canadian Government and in nursing overseas during: the Peninsular and Crimean Wars, the Boer War, World War 1, World War 2, peacemaking action initiated by the United Nations and/or NATO including the Korean War, the Gulf War of 1991 and Afghanistan or any peacekeeping action initiated by the United Nations and/or NATO in which Canada played an active military role. 01.19 War Veterans – those persons who voluntarily enlisted with Canadian military forces including the Canadian Merchant Navy that served in a war zone as defined by the Canadian Government and in nursing and served overseas in active duty during: the Peninsular and Crimean Wars, the Boer War, World War 1, World War 2, peacemaking action initiated by the United Nations and/or NATO including the Korean War, the Gulf War of 1991 and Afghanistan or any Policy Title: Street Naming Policy Page 3 of 10 Policy Number: ADM 220 peacekeeping action initiated by the United Nations and/or NATO in which Canada played an active military role. 02 Street Naming 02.01 Criteria for selecting names to be reserved for Public or Private Streets in Pickering: a) Street Names shall not impair the ability of Emergency Services to respond to emergencies or the City’s ability to deliver services; b) Street Names shall not result in or be perceived to confer, any competitive advantage, benefit or preferential treatment or advertisement to the named party, or product, service or a particular business; c) Street Names shall not result in inappropriate abbreviations or acronyms; d) Street Names shall be easy to pronounce; e) Street Names shall not duplicate or sound similar to other street names including spelling variations of the same name being used within the Region; f) Street Names shall be a reasonable length so as to fit the size of a standard street sign blade width when combined with the street type abbreviation (for sign blade width see Engineering Services Department Standards P-809 & P-811); g) Proper Names will only be approved for use by the City if: i) the names are those of the W ar Dead who were residents of Pickering at the time they served; ii) the names are those of War Veterans who were, or became and remained, residents of Pickering after their service; iii) the name is that of a Pickering Firefighter who was killed on the job or passed as a result of a job-related injury/illness; or iv) the name is that of a resident, living or deceased, who has exhibited significant importance to Pickering’s heritage. 02.02 Procedure for reserving names not on the Reserve List to be used for Public or Private Streets in Pickering: a) All customers must submit an “Application to Add a Street Name to the Reserve List” to the City Development Department, (see Appendix 1), which shall include the proposed name and the rationale for the name, in addition to the applicable fees as per the City’s Fees and Charges By-law; Policy Title: Street Naming Policy Page 4 of 10 Policy Number: ADM 220 b) Geomatics Staff will vet names submitted by customers to ensure that they comply with section 02.01 of this policy; c) Names vetted by Geomatics Staff will be submitted to the Region for approval according to their procedure for Street Names in Regional Procedure D20; 02.03 Process and responsibilities for assigning reserved names to proposed Public or Private Streets in Pickering: a) The Customer picks names from the Reserve List or submits names as per sections 02.01 and 02.02 of this policy; b) Suffixes are assigned by Geomatics Staff to ensure the appropriate suffix is used to describe the type, function, length and configuration of the street, and are chosen from the standard list of Street Suffixes used by Canada Post (see Appendix 2); i) Only Back Lanes will use the suffix “Mews”; ii) Private Streets will only use the suffix “Private”; c) Private Streets will be named using the following principles: i) where a development has a Private Street that functions as vehicular access to a development and the overall layout and design is simple and easily understood, (see Appendix 3), the Private Street will not be named; ii) where a development has multiple Private Streets and the layout more complex, (see Appendix 4), the Private Streets will be named to provide wayfinding but shall not be part of the Municipal Address; iii) notwithstanding subsections b) ii), c) i) and c) ii) above, all Private Streets named prior to this policy will be grandfathered, (see Appendix 5); d) The Street Names are registered through one of the following processes as the City deems appropriate to the development type: i) registration of a draft plan of subdivision/condominium; ii) registration of a development agreement/site plan agreement; or iii) registration of a by-law and survey. 03 Street Name Signs 03.01 Street Name Signs will adhere to the development standards as set out in the development agreement, subdivision/condominium agreement or site plan agreement. Policy Title: Street Naming Policy Page 5 of 10 Policy Number: ADM 220 03.02 Street Name Signs for Public Streets will use a green background with white lettering. 03.03 Street Name Signs for Private Streets will use a blue background with white lettering. 04 Changing Street Names 04.01 Applications to change an existing Public Street Name, including those initiated by the City, are overseen by the Legal Services Division of the Corporate Services Department. All costs associated with the procedure to change the street name will be the responsibility of the applicant. Selecting the name to replace an existing Street Name will be in accordance with section 02 of this policy. 05 Names of Public Streets being stopped up and closed 05.01 A Street Name of a Pickering street that is permanently stopped up and closed, in its entirety, will be retired and not re-used anywhere else within Pickering. Please refer to all associated Procedures and Standard Operating Procedures, if applicable, for detailed processes regarding this Policy. Appendices Appendix 1 Application to Add a Street Name to the Reserve List Appendix 2 Standard list of Canada Post Street Suffixes and their Approved Abbreviations Appendix 3 Examples of Developments with a Private Street with overall simple layout and design Appendix 4 Examples of Developments with multiple Private Streets and complex layouts Appendix 5 Private Street Names grandfathered by this Policy (Existing) Policy Title: Street Naming Policy Page 6 of 10 Policy Number: ADM 220 Appendix 1 Application to Add a Street Names to the Reserve List Policy Title: Street Naming Policy Page 7 of 10 Policy Number: ADM 220 Appendix 2 Canada Post Standard Street Suffixes and their Approved Abbreviations Suffix Abbreviation Suffix Abbreviation Suffix Abbreviation Abbey ABBEY Front FRONT Passage PASS Acres ACRES Gardens GDNS Path PATH Alley ALLEY Gate GATE Pathway PTWAY Avenue AVE Glade GLADE Pines PINES Bay BAY Glen GLEN Place PL Beach BEACH Green GREEN Plateau PLAT Bend BEND Grounds GRNDS Plaza PLAZA Boulevard BLVD Grove GROVE Point PT By-Pass BYPASS Harbour HARBR Port PORT Byway BYWAY Heath HEATH Private PVT Campus CAMPUS Heights HTS Promenade PROM Cape CAPE Highlands HGHLDS Quay QUAY Centre CTR Highway HWY Ramp RAMP Chase CHASE Hill HILL Range RG Circle CIR Hollow HOLLOW Ridge RIDGE Circuit CIRCT Impasse IMP Rise RISE Close CLOSE Inlet INLET Road RD Common COMMON Island ISLAND Route RTE Concession CONC Key KEY Row ROW Corners CRNRS Knoll KNOLL Run RUN Court CRT Landing LANDING Square SQ Cove COVE Lane LANE Street ST Crescent CRES Limits LMTS Terrace TERR Crossing CROSS Line LINE Thicket THICK Cul-de-sac CDS Link LINK Towers TOWERS Dale DALE Lookout LKOUT Townline TLINE Dell DELL Loop LOOP Trail TRAIL Downs DOWNS Mall MALL Turnabout TRNABT Drive DR Manor MAOR Vale VALE End END Maze MAZE Via VIA Esplanade ESPL Meadow MEADOW View VIEW Estates ESTATE Mews MEWS Village VILLGE Expressway EXPY Moor MOOR Vista VISTA Extension EXTEN Mountain MTN Walk WALK Farm FARM Orchard ORCH Way WAY Field FIELD Parade PARADE Wharf WHARF Forest FOREST Park PK Wood WOOD Freeway FWY Parkway PKY Wynd WYND Policy Title: Street Naming Policy Page 8 of 10 Policy Number: ADM 220 Appendix 3 Examples of Developments with a Private Street with the overall simple layout and design. Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 Example 5 Example 6 Policy Title: Street Naming Policy Page 9 of 10 Policy Number: ADM 220 Appendix 4 Examples of Developments with multiple Private Streets and complex layouts Example 1 Example 2 Policy Title: Street Naming Policy Page 10 of 10 Policy Number: ADM 220 Appendix 5 Private Street Names grandfathered by this Policy (Existing) Names of Private Streets with a suffix other than “Private” Adirondack Chase Beachpoint Promenade Bluebird Crescent Boston Glen Castlegate Crossing Durham Live Avenue Garrison Crossing Grenwich Glen Gull Crossing Hidden Valley Glen Huckleberry Crossing Jackpine Crossing Ladyfern Crossing Nantucket Chase Mayapple Crossing Moonbeam Glen Shining Star Chase Stallion Chase Tribro Studios Avenue Universal City Way Waterpoint Street