Wakefield looks into renaming streets

By CHARITY SMITH

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Wakefield — The city of Wakefield is looking into changing some of the names of city streets after a mix-up with similar street names recently lead to a prolonged delay in response by emergency services, according to city manager Robert Brown.

Brown said that within the city several of the street names are duplicated, such as Fifth Avenue and, Fifth Street, or are very similar such as Eddy Park Road and Eddy Street. To rename the streets would impose some inconvenience on affected residents. Once a street is renamed, the residents would be required to update their diver’s license or state ID, banking records, insurance and many other things with their new address.

“The biggest problem is that there is nothing that explains the process of how to rename a street,” said Brown during the council meeting on Jan. 24. “At the end of the day, council can do as they please. They’re the ultimate governing board of the city, but I don’t know where to begin.”

This is because the city does not have an ordinance in place to address the process of naming and renaming streets and who has the authority to do so besides the council.

In some cities, the streets are named after veterans and other cities just have a free-for-all where names are submitted, they have a public hearing and select the one that they like, Brown said. Some cities leave it up to the council. Some have the planning commission decide. Some have a commission that just does street naming. “There’s tons of options,” Brown said.

Brown said it would take approximately 90 days to set up an ordinance for street naming. He said that would include a first, second and public hearing and a final read of the ordinance. The ordinance would go into effect 30 days after the final read, he said.

“Probably your best bet is to pick that street that needs to be changed that might only have like two or three residents on it verses 12,” said mayor Dale White. “The 12 might be a little upset. I’d rather have two or three a little upset.”

The council said they would like to see a list of streets that have similar or duplicate names and how many residents are on them. Brown said he would also draft up a couple different versions of an ordinance. He said he’ll do one that has the veterans focus and one that is more open ended for the council’s next meeting on Feb. 14.