(a) Policy and Intent. The renaming of a developed street involves considerable inconvenience and expense for property owners, emergency service providers and public utilities as well as the City, due to the necessity of changing records, maps, and signs. It also affects preservation of the City's historic past. It is best reserved to eliminate duplicative or similar names, reflect changes in street patterns, or similar circumstances. The following procedures are to be followed so as to identify and address any problems that a street name change may produce when requests are made to the City Commission to adopt a street name change.
(b) Required conditions. Requests for street name changes shall meet the following required conditions prior to being considered for approval:
(1) If honoring an individual, the person must be widely recognized as having national, state, or local community significance for community or public service so as to merit remembrance and so as to override the memory of the present street name.
(2) If the proposed street name is that of a person, such individual must be deceased and well-known to citizens of all walks of life for a specific contribution or sacrifice.
(3) The proposed name should be acknowledged by other national, state or local community organizations that have similar policies and a capacity to objectively evaluate contributions of the honored individual to be deemed to have lasting significance.
(c) Other considerations. In reviewing a request to rename a developed street, the following additional considerations shall be addressed and evaluated:
(1) The historic significance of the current street name;
(2) Whether the proposed name is duplicative or similar to a current street name in the Battle Creek area;
(3) Whether the proposed name will eliminate confusion;
(4) The economic impact of a street name change considering the costs, effort and inconvenience to persons residing on the street, the City, public utilities and common carriers.
(d) Review of Request. Any request to change a street name shall be directed to the Planning and Community Development Department which shall refer requests to the following City departments and other affected agencies and entities for review and comment:
(1) Emergency Dispatch Center;
(2) Traffic Engineering Manager;
(3) City Clerk;
(4) City Assessor;
(5) Geographic Information Systems Department;
(6) Code Compliance and Building Inspection Division;
(7) Battle Creek Historic District Commission;
(8) Heritage of Battle Creek or other local historic societies;
(9) Local utility service providers;
(10) Local telecommunications service providers;
(11) Local offices of mail, package or parcel delivery service companies such as the United States Postal Service, Federal Express, and United Postal Service;
(12) Battle Creek Unlimited.
(e) Report. Within sixty days after receipt of a request to rename a street, the Planning and Development Department shall prepare a report to the City Manager. This report shall:
(1) Apply and evaluate whether the request meets the required conditions of this section.
(2) Evaluate the impact any name change would have pursuant to the requirements of this section.
(3) Summarize the comments and concerns received from City departments, community agencies and organizations.
(f) Public Hearing. After receipt and review by the City Manager, the report of the Planning and Community Development Department shall be forwarded to the City Commission for consideration. A public hearing shall be scheduled on the requested street name change. All property owners, according to the records of the City Assessor, directly abutting the affected street shall be informed at least ten days before the public hearing by regular mail.
(g) City Commission Action. Within thirty days of the public hearing, the City Commission shall act to approve or deny the request for a street name change. In lieu of approving a street name change, the City Commission may commemoratively designate the current street or portion of a current street. Upon approval of a street name change by the City Commission or a commemorative designation of a street by the City Commission, the Engineering Department shall notify all state and county agencies and affected property owners of such change. Notice shall also be sent to all City departments and all affected agencies and community organizations that provide service based upon street names filed. The cost of producing, installing, maintaining and replacing City street signs with the new name shall be paid for by the person or organization requesting the street name change prior to such work being undertaken by the City.
(Ord. 2-01. Passed 2-20-01.)