As a follow-up to Council approval of a Street Rename Policy, staff has development a set of criteria that may be applied to future requests for consideration of the renaming of a public or private street. The criteria are provided as general guidelines to assist in a comprehensive assessment of the appropriateness of street rename requests. The criteria will be utilized by the City Council in considering the renaming of public streets and by staff in its review of private street rename requests.

Staff recommends that requests for the renaming of public and private streets be reviewed against the criteria established by this action. Staff further recommends that the recently adopted street rename policy be amended to incorporate the criteria (Attachment A).

On April 30, 2002 the City Council approved a street renaming policy and directed staff to develop criteria that may be utilized in the consideration of future street rename actions

Currently, one application requesting the renaming of a public street is in process. If the criteria outlined in this report are adopted by Council, staff recommends that they be applied to current and future street rename requests.

The proposed criteria identify potential issues which will be analyzed by staff for the decision maker to weigh in its consideration of the rename request.

Due to the intermittent nature of requests to rename streets, and to ensure that the criteria discussed in this report are consistently applied to such requests, staff recommends that the street renaming policy adopted by Council on April 30, 2002 be amended to incorporate the criteria identified in this report (Attachment A).

NUMBER OF BUSINESSES/RESIDENTS AFFECTED

• Directly affected

Properties directly affected by the renaming of a street include those which take their address from the street under consideration. Directly affected properties would be impacted by the renaming of a street requiring address changes be made to all materials that reference an address including mail, billing address, driver license, business cards, etc. Updating address information is time consuming and, in some cases, costly. Impacts will vary significantly from property to property.

Consideration in this category would focus on the number of properties directly affected; the fewer properties the better. Disruption of commercial, industrial and residential properties are all important; however, commercial properties would likely realize the largest cost impacts due to advertising materials.

• Indirectly affected

Properties indirectly affected by the renaming of a street include those which take their address from a street that is accessed or served by the street under consideration. Indirectly affected properties can include entire neighborhoods or commercial/industrial complexes. Although such impacted properties would generally not experience direct costs, many would be inconvenienced related to access instructions or location maps/brochures.

Consideration in this category would focus on the number of properties affected; however, the number of affected properties may be quite large due to the relationship of the street circulation grid.

COMPATIBILITY WITH EXISTING STREET NAMING SYSTEM

The City of Sunnyvale has had a street naming system in place since approximately 1952. The system is based on relatively homogeneous areas within which street names comply with an assigned grouping; e.g. flowers, Spanish ranchos, pacific northwest, stars, etc. Within each area, street names are in alphabetical order from north to south and from west to east. This system makes it convenient for residents to identify a general area and to more quickly determine direction when seeking a particular address. This strategy also assists emergency crews in more quickly locating a given location.

Consideration of this criteria would include compatibility with the City’s existing street naming system.

APPROPRIATENESS GIVEN TYPES OF USES ALONG SUBJECT STREET

This criteria considers the nature of land use along a street under consideration for renaming. This broad category includes national, political or cultural uses which should be considered as part of the decision process. Examples include land use that may have community-wide or sub-regional significance such as the City Hall complex, commercial mall or significant recreational facility.

Consideration of this criteria would insure reasonable compatibility between land use and street name.

RECOGNITION OF COMMUNITY DIVERSITY

This criteria considers the ethnic and cultural diversity of the community as reflected in common street names. Sequoia and Saskatchewan Drives are local examples that reflect native heritage of the north American continent. Vaqueros and Vasquez Avenues reflect Spanish influences in the region. Santa Rita and Santa Rosa are examples of Spanish terms influenced by the Christian religion.

Consideration of this criteria would endorse evolving community diversity.

RECOGNITION OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

This criteria recognizes that the community has developed and evolved over time and street names may be part of the recognition of a person, place or event important to the community.

Consideration of this criteria recognizes the historical significance of existing street names and the importance in recognizing the potential future historical importance to current events and developments.

IMPACTS ON EMERGENCY SERVICES

The existing street naming system cautions against street names and spelling that are too similar potentially leading to confusion related to quick access by emergency vehicles and personnel. As established by the recently adopted street rename policy, all such requests would be coordinated with City Departments, the County of Santa Clara and Federal mail services.

Consideration of this criteria will ensure that replacement names for existing streets will not result in confusion related to efficient access for emergency purposes.

COSTS

The changing of a street name will result in costs to the City. The fees required for applications requesting either a public or private street name change will offset certain costs, particularly those related to the processing of the application; however, significant additional cost may accrue in certain circumstances, e.g. where new freeway and street signs are required, modifying maps, etc. Street rename actions will also, in most cases, result in costs to property owners or tenants other than the applicant. Fiscal impacts to business owners may be particularly high due to advertising materials and ads that note the original street location. Billing address, business cards and other location specific materials will need to be updated in response to a street name change. Persons on fixed income may also be negatively impacted.

Consideration of this criteria will evaluate fiscal impacts to the City and affected community, and to consider which costs the applicant should bear.

PRECEDENT

Certain street rename requests may represent a precedent that might encourage similar requests. For example, a local business may wish to rename the street from which it takes access to match the name of the business; however, businesses can fail, relocate or change their name. Moreover, if one business is successful in changing the name of a street, might others follow?

Consideration of this criteria will determine whether an action to rename a street might establish a desirable or undesirable precedent.

This item is seeking action from Council establishing a series of street renaming criteria; no fiscal impact will result from this item.

The staff report for this project was posted on the City of Sunnyvale’s Website and a copy of the report was provided at the Reference Section of the City of Sunnyvale’s Public Library. The Agenda was posted on the City of Sunnyvale’s Website.

Alternative 1

Prepared by:
Fred Bell
Principal Planner

Reviewed by:
Trudi Ryan
Planning Officer

Robert Paternoster
Director, Community Development

Approved by:
Robert S. LaSala
City Manager

1. Council Policy "Public and Private Street Rename Process and Criteria".