Council Asked To Address Proper House Numbering Again

By Pattie Cox
pcox@garrardcentralrecord.com

Rather than continuing to table action on readdressing city streets according to 911 requirements, local resident and city police officer, David Shepherd was adamant that the city should do something about the problems incorrect addressing causes, especially for him.

“This is something that keeps getting tabled and it doesn’t need to be tabled,” Shepherd said. “This is ridiculous.”

Shepherd cited numerous problems created for him both personally and professionally when house numbers do not follow a recognizable pattern. That’s why the 9-1-1 standard of applying house numbers based on mileage was adopted several years ago and implemented in all the surrounding counties and cities. It was also implemented in Lancaster but when residents began to complain about the associated difficulties it would cause them personally, the action was reversed.

That decision leaves Shepherd with the same house number as some of his neighbors. A new neighbor has been trying unsuccessfully to have the power to his home turned on for three days because the company says that Shepherd lives at the address in question and already has electric service, he explained.  Nor does he get his mail regularly.

He also related difficulty in responding to complaints due to the improper addressing associated with several areas in the city. And for those areas that at least follow a pattern, a GPS system cannot locate them due to the improper assignment that disregards the mileage ingredient. For instance, if a house is one-tenth of a mile beyond the beginning of the road, the house number should be 100; five-tenths, 500; 1 mile, 1000;  and so on with even numbers on the right side of the road and odds on the opposite side.

With the information from the initial implementation about 10 years ago still on file, the job would not be as difficult as starting over.

The city needs to get on board with the rest of the country, Shepherd explained. “We’re too far advanced. We need it.”

Although Shepherd would like to see the proper implementation of house numbering in the city, just changing his street in attempt to take care of the associated problems would be enough for him.

“I’ll go tomorrow and change my driver’s license,” he said.