REPORT TO COUNCIL

STREET NAMING COMMITTEE

June 1, 2001

INFORMATION

1. Annual Report RTS No: 2127

CC No.: 5526
Council: July 10, 2001

The Vancouver Charter authorizes Council to pass by-laws establishing street names. Although a committee for the purpose of naming streets is not specifically required by the Charter, from its earliest years, the City has assigned the task of reviewing and assigning street names to a succession of committees, ranging from the all-Aldermanic Civic Works Committee, to the mixed-form Street Naming Committee of the 1950s, which was composed of four Aldermen and four staff members; to the present all-staff committee, which dates from the early 1970s.

Council uses the Street Name By-Law, No. 4054, to name and regulate public roads in the City of Vancouver. The current Street Naming Committee is chaired by the City Clerk and comprised of the City Surveyor, representatives of the Archives, Planning, Permits & Licensing, and Fire & Rescue Services Departments. A list of current members is attached as Appendix A.

Tools and Publications

The Committee is responsible for the management of a consistent, integrated and duplication-free street name system. To meet this responsibility, the Street Naming Committee maintains the Street Name Index, a continually-updated database of street names currently in use throughout Greater Vancouver. All proposed names are checked against this database in order to prevent duplication and to avoid creation of similarities in names that might lead to confusion or hazard in emergency situations.

As an aid in choosing street names, the Street Naming Committee maintains the Register of Potential Street Names, a list of names of historical and other significance, that it regards as suitable for future street names in Vancouver. This list is offered to developers and to the public, not as a requirement but as a set of suggestions and examples.

The Street Naming Committee publishes Street Naming Guidelines. This is a handbook forstreet naming in the City of Vancouver. It describes the Committee and its functions, sets out the legal basis for issuing street names, distinguishes between public and private streets, sets out policies for streets that do not carry vehicular traffic and defines the meanings of the sixteen types of street designations (alley, avenue, boulevard . . . walk, way) currently in use in the City.

Significant Activities

Areas of the City
In the past year, the Street Naming Committee has dealt with the following areas of the City on one or more occasions:
· Broadway East
· Champlain Mall
· East False Creek
· False Creek Flats - Finning Lands
· False Creek Flats - Station Street Area
· Pacific Street/Pacific Boulevard

Developers
The Committee dealt with these companies during the year:
· Bentall Development Services
· Bosa Developments
· Concord Properties
· Palladium Group

Individuals/Private Groups
The Committee took up issues shown below as raised by these individuals or groups during the past year:
· City Gate Housing Cooperative - Milross Avenue
· Michael Drainie - Request that Drainie be added to the Register of Potential Street Names in honour of his father, John Drainie, a prominent radio actor.
· Paul Muscat - Numbering system on Pacific Street/Pacific Boulevard
· The Finning Family - Request for Earl Finning Way as a new public street name.

Extensions of Existing Street Grid
It has been the policy of the City to extend the existing street grid to include new streets wherever possible. In the past year, the Street Naming Committee has determined that proposed new streets are extensions of the following existing streets:
· Beatty Street
· Carolina Street
· Fraser Street
· Homer Street
· Scotia Street
· Seymour Street
· St George Street
· Thornton Street

New Private Streets
Council has given the Street Naming Committee authority to approve names for private streets - streets and ways on private property upon which the public is not normally invited or where public access may be legally prevented. In the past year the Committee has approved these private streets:
· Algonquin Mews (Champlain Mall Redevelopment)
· Brulé Mews (Champlain Mall Redevelopment)
· Clermont Mews (Champlain Mall Redevelopment)
· Couillard Mews (Champlain Mall Redevelopment)
· Huron Mews (Champlain Mall Redevelopment)
· Perrot Mews (Champlain Mall Redevelopment)
· Virtual Way (Broadway East)

New/Changed Public Streets
The Street Naming Committee reports to Council, recommending names for new public streets or on changes in the names of existing public streets. In the past year, Council has approved the Street Naming Committee's recommendations that Milross Avenue be created and that a portion of Beach Avenue be renamed as Beach Crescent.

In separate reports, the Committee will be recommending to Council that Beatty Walk, Homer Mews and Seymour Mews be approved as public streets. These are extensions of Beatty, Homer and Seymour Streets, respectively, but of a substantially different character, as shown by their street-type designations. The Committee will also be recommending Earl Finning Place and Foley Street as new public street names in the False Creek Flats and Mont Royal Square as a public street in the Champlain Mall Redevelopment.

The Committee is currently working with a developer on the names of three additional public street names in the False Creek Flats - Station Street Area.

If council would like further information on any of these topics, the Committee would be pleased to present it.

CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The City Manager submits this report for INFORMATION.

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APPENDIX A

Street Naming Committee

Year 2001 Committee Members

Representation/Function	Member	Alternate
Office of the City Clerk	City Clerk	Sue Baptie, City Archivist
Planning	Larry Beasley, Director of Current Planning	Rob Jenkins, Assistant Director - Current Planning Initiatives Branch
Permits and Licensing	Bonnie Lee, Addressing Coordinator	Renae Foster, Addressing Coordinator
Emergency Services	Pat Hayes, Division Chief Communications	Robert P. Bazaluk, Acting Division Chief Communications
Engineering Services	Mike Thomson, City Surveyor	Rick Hargraves, Assistant City Surveyor
Historian	Sue Baptie, City Archivist+	To be filled

Note: +This position was held by Brian Porter, Solicitor, until his retirement in May 2001, at which time Sue Baptie moved from alternate to regular member.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver