(A) All residential and business structures (or any structure that has a telephone installed) shall be assigned an accurate physical address based upon the City Block and Grid Address System or 911 addressing system or the County Mileage and Footage Address System.
(B) City addresses shall be assigned by the 911 Address Agent or 911 Director. Addresses may be assigned by their designee in the event of their absence and upon approval of the Mayor or Building Inspector.
(C) The following guidelines shall apply for address assignment:
(1) Structure addresses shall be assigned to a structure off of the most obvious street, i.e. primarily the street by which the structure's driveway is served by and or the street the structure fronts or faces which ever proves to be more accurate.
(2) Structure addresses shall be assigned to allow for the most possible future growth and still maintain reasonable accuracy.
(3) Structure addresses shall not duplicate another structure address on the same street nor be assigned a half or rear suffix or prefix to the address. If a new number needs to be assigned to a street but the current street addressing does not allow for the new growth, the entire street shall be accurately re-assigned addresses allow for any future growth upon the approval of the Mayor.
(4) Should it become necessary to re-address an entire street, a new street or totally re-address the city, the proper odd/even numbers shall be assigned to the proper side of the street. For all streets that run from East to West, even numbers shall be assigned on the right side of the street. For all streets that run South to North, even numbers shall be assigned on the right side of the street.
(5) The center point for city addressing shall be the intersection of Main and Wilson Avenue. All streets shall be either North, South, East or West of the center point.
(6) Addresses shall not be assigned to new structures until a minimum of a foundation or other fixed item such as corner footers are in place. The Building Inspector shall be made aware of any new structure addresses assigned in the city to ensure that proper permits have been obtained prior to address notification of the requesting party.
(7) Requests for a new address in the city shall be directed to the County Judge Executive's office and forwarded to the 911 Director for assignment.
(a) Once the address has been assigned by the 911 Director, the assigned address shall be returned to County Judge Executive's office.
(b) The County Judge Executive's office shall then notify the U.S. Postal Service and the requesting party of the address assignment.
(8) Multi-unit addressing for businesses, apartments and other residential structures or complexes such as trailer courts shall receive multi-unit addresses off of the street that the main complex entrance is served. Individual apartments, suites, duplexes and trailers shall then be numbered individually using a scheme that best promotes continuity from the entrance throughout the complex. Example of multi-unit address: 100 West Main Street, Lot #23.
(D) All structures assigned an address shall have the proper address prominently displayed on the structure and on the mailbox for those residences that receive home delivery.
(1) The landowner or caretaker of the property, including a tenant of rental property, shall be primarily responsible for displaying the proper address on the assigned structure and mailbox.
(2) The address shall be displayed in a prominent unobstructed location on the side of the structure facing the assigned street and be displayed in such a position as to be plainly visible and legible from the street or road fronting the property.
(3) Address numbers shall be displayed on the left or right side of the main entrance, on the door or on a front porch post on the side of the house facing the assigned street.
(4) Residential numbers shall be no smaller than four inches in height and a stroke of ½" and shall be displayed horizontally or vertically; however, numbers shall not be displayed backward. Further the numbers shall be of a contrasting color to the background or not in any fashion that makes reading the number difficult at first glance.
(5) Mailbox addressing shall comply with U.S. Postal Regulations.
(6) In the event a structure address is not easily visible from the street, the address shall also be displayed on a sign or post at the entrance to the driveway.
(7) Assigned business addresses shall be prominently displayed on the front door or on the left or right side of the front main entrance. Address numbers shall not be less than six inches in height and a stroke of ½" and may be displayed horizontally and vertically but shall not be displayed backward or in any fashion that makes reading the number difficult at first glance.
(E) It shall be a violation to fail to comply with the address ordinance herein, to fail to display the properly assigned number or to display the wrong address.
(F) The naming of streets in the city shall be regulated as follows:
(1) All streets, drives or lanes, both public and private, in the city that have three or more structures shall have an assigned street name.
(2) All street naming shall be subject to final approval by the Board of City Council.
(3) No street name shall be a duplicate or should be a like name of any existing street or road in the city and Rowan County.
(4) City streets must have a suffix of street, boulevard, avenue, drive, court, trail, circle, place or way. Suffixes such as road, branch, gap, lick, hollow and mountain should be avoided for county road naming.
(5) The use of personal names for new streets shall be avoided except by two-thirds majority approval of residents that actually reside on the street or upon the decision of the City Council in the event that the personal name is of an individual that is or was a community leader, a person that has performed a great community service or an individual that is held in great esteem by the community, state or federal government. Should the personal name duplicate an existing street, it shall be necessary to rename the existing street.
(6) Streets shall not be given inappropriate names, but should be named after things such as trees, flowers, animals, places, historic or geographic sites or named after regional items that promote community pride, etc.
(Ord. 14:2002, passed 8-12-02; Am. Ord. 08:2003, passed 3-10-03; Am. Ord. 03:2019, passed 2-11-19)