City proposes faster system to change similar street names

City staff are hoping to speed up the change of confusingly similar street names by proposing a new system to do so that involves less public consultation.

Since amalgamation in 2001, staff have been trying to weed out duplicate and similar-sounding street names that can pose a public safety hazard.

In the past, for example, 911 dispatchers facing an ambiguous address just traced the land-line call, but cellphone triangulation takes too long.

Now, staff say they're trying to pick up the pace of change, and that even iconic duplicated names including such words as "Rideau" may be changed.

Until now, communities have been asked to decide what street names should be changed to, said Arlene Grgoire, the city's director of building code services.

'In some instances, communities [split] over a choice of a name'

"And that's why it's taken us this long, because going at it one or two streets a year is not going to address the concerns," Grgoiresaid.

"It became very resourceintensive because people are very attached to their street names, and we were inviting people to vote on potential new names and that created, in some instances, communities splitting over a choice of a name."

City staff are now proposing a new process to get through the backlog more quickly.

If approved, residents affected by a street name change would go to the city's website to suggest new names for their street.

Those suggestions would then be vetted by the city to check against conflicts, and then the councillor for the ward affected would be invited to help the city choose from the vetted list.

Members of the planning committee will discuss the proposed approach next Tuesday.