By Chris Hendrickson, Monitor
NEW STREET NAME IN CITY'S NEW DENNIS ADDITION
City council discussed an inconsistency in a series of addresses along 159th Street SE near Park Lane and Alden Avenue. The area of new development that lies to the east of Alden Avenue features four new homes that are numerically addressed based on the city's numbering system. The rest of the street however, is addressed in congruence with the regional street numbering standard, and the established addresses along 159th all have five digits.
The new residences at 1152, 1136, 1060 and 1044 either need to have their house numbers changed to the five-digit numbering system for 159th Street SE in consistency with the homes that lie West of Alden Avenue, or the street name needs to be changed on the section of roadway which lies East of Alden Avenue and the house numbers can remain the same, explained Councilman Kurt Goering.
"Either change the house numbers to match 159th or make it a city-named street to match the house numbers,GÇ¥ said Goering. "Leaving it the way that it is leaves the inconsistency.GÇ¥
The problem with the inconsistency is that it could potentially affect computer generated dispatching systems, such as what is used by the fire department and the police department. Both departments have started using a new countywide records management system called Aegis. Mapping for the computer-aided dispatch system uses geographical information systems technology, which relies on addressing consistency based on specific standards within the region.
Such addressing standards include; Drives and Avenues should be North and South running roads, while Streets and Places should be East and West running roads.
The City of Monroe has a high number of anomalies and errors, reported Fire Chief Jamie Silva in a letter addressed to council on March 12.
Both Councilmen Williams and Gamble were opposed to the change, however Councilman Williams decided to go in favor of the motion after a clarification was made in regards to how many houses would be impacted by the change.
Gamble remained opposed.
Goering made a motion to change the name of 159th Street SE to Johnson Street, on the section of roadway which begins East of Alden Avenue. Homes located at 1152, 1136, 1060 and 1044 will be addressed by their existing four-digit number sequences, but the street name will now be Johnson Street.
No one is currently living in the four residences; however the houses at both 1152 and 1044 show a sale pending on the real estate website Redfin.com.
Addressing remains an issue in Monroe. The new Aegis system assigns police or fire department units based on their proximity to the emergency.
"The fact is, despite the local investment in the success of Aegis, there are too many errors and anomalies in the Monroe addressing schema to expect that proximity routing in the city of Monroe will work correctly,GÇ¥ wrote Chief Silva.
Silva gave several recommendations in regards to bringing Monroe's addresses into consistency including; the utilization of a standardized process, incorporating a five-digit address number approach which would be applied in a gridded fashion, and modifications to correct current street-type-orientation inconsistencies.
TRAFFIC CALMING DEVICES
The city is working on creating a regulatory policy around traffic calming device requests. In recent months the Stanton Meadows Homeowners Association has come forward with a desire to incorporate traffic calming measures in their neighborhood.
The difficulty lies in the lack of available funds within the city's budget to be able to accommodate the installation of either permanent or portable speed humps in areas of concern.
A single speed hump costs approximately $6000 and basic design standards specify installing speed humps in series of three to maximize the effectiveness in slowing down traffic.
Public Works Director Brad Feilberg is in the process of working up a consistent plan for homeowners associations who wish to pursue speed calming devices and considerations will be made as to a procedure for neighborhoods who wish to absorb the expense privately.
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