§ 102.05 CHANGE OF ADDRESSES.
   (A)   To facilitate the emergency services and help ensure that public services are accurately and safely provided, it sometimes becomes necessary to change a previously assigned address which includes structure number and street name. When the city must necessitate a change of an assigned address or currently used street name, the property owners and/or lessees affected by the change shall be notified, via certified mail, of the proposed change. They shall then be given not less than 30 days to respond, in writing, to the proposed change. All written responses challenging the proposed change shall be weighed on their individual merit. The Planning Department may solicit the expertise of the E-911 coordinator, Post Office Address Management, Police Department, Fire Department representative and/or Codes Department as needed, in order to arrive at an educated decision. The Planning Department shall give written notification of its final decision within 30 days of the initial response from the property owner and/or lessee and this decision shall be final. If a response, in writing, is not received from the property owner and/or lessees within the 30-day time period challenging the proposed change, the property owner and/or lessees shall be notified, via certified mail, that the change of address is henceforth in effect and then 21 days from the date of receiving this letter to post the correct street number. An example may be duplicate or similar sounding names regardless of the type of road. Another example may structure numbers that maybe confusing to emergency responders, numbers out of synchrony and numbers out of the range for that road.
   (B)   If a property owner(s) wants a road named changed, a petition must be submitted to the Planning Department explaining the need for the change such as confusion by businesses using the address information. The petition must include three potentially non-duplicate and non-confusing names and the signatures of all of the owners of property owners accessible from the road. All affected property owners must be in favor of the change and indicate so on the petition. Name does not include the descriptor of the type of street (road, street, lane, court, drive, trail, avenue, way, boulevard and the like). If the road is included within a homeowner association neighborhood, the petition must be signed by the president, as well as every member within the association.
      (1)   Changes initiated by a petition (property owner/owners) are responsible for the cost of all new signs associated with the change.
      (2)   No renaming of roads will be considered that is a duplicate, or a road that is deceptively or phonetically similar to any existing road (regardless of type) in both Cleveland and Gaston Counties.
   (C)   The Codes, Billing, Utilities, Public Works and Police Departments shall be notified of any address change that is implemented as indicated in the address notification list.
   (D)   (1)   The property owner and/or lessee shall make the appropriate changes of address within 21 days after receiving final written notice from the Planning Department.
      (2)   Other entities, relying on address data, shall be notified of any address change as indicated in the address notification list.
(Ord. 10-22, passed 9-28-2010)