GUELPH – Wellington County is making plans to replace existing green rural property signs with new signs that include the approved municipal road name.
At the Sept. 26 meeting, county council approved a planning committee recommendation to direct staff to budget for the replacement of signs, with the exception of intersection signage, in the 2020 capital budget.
The signs were originally installed in 1994 as a rural addressing system for Wellington County aimed at providing consistent county-wide civic addresses.
A report from emergency manager Linda Dickson explained that Mapleton Township council has indicated a desire to have signs updated to include the road/street name. The Township of Woolwich has a similar signage system and the Floradale Fire Department in Woolwich services a large area of Mapleton.
In February Mapleton council passed a resolution to support further discussions at the county level for bulk pricing and consistent signage.
Dickson’s report states including the road/street name on the green property sign would be “a definite benefit” for emergency location purpose.
“With the increase in cell phone usage today and less reliance on landline 9-1-1 calls that include the telephone and address location information, the additional information on the sign is helpful for emergency services, public works and utilities that provide services in Wellington. The inclusion of the road name on the green property sign would be an enhancement for all municipalities in Wellington and not just Mapleton,” Dickson states in the report.
The report also notes that many of the existing signs (although the responsibility of the property owner once posted) are rusting and are in need of replacement. It is estimated there are currently 13,500 such signs in the county.
Council chose the first of the following three options for allocating the cost of the replacement program:
– have the county bear the estimated $270,000 cost to replace the signs;
– have member municipalities replace all of the green property signs in their municipality and cover the costs; and
– make the cost of replacement the responsibility of the property owner.
Councillor Andy Lennox asked if consideration had been given to renaming any roads as part of the process.
“In Wellington North we have County Road 6, Concession 6 South, Concession 6 North, Sideroad 6, Line Six and Sixth line. It’s a little bit confusing,” said Lennox.
County engineer Don Kudo said the duplicate names is “an ongoing issue,” and “one we have to work out with the municipalities.”
Kudo said county roads staff could take on the issue of duplicate road names if so directed by council.
Way to go Mr. Lennox! I live within 5 minutes of 6 roads that all have names with “6” in them. Changing at least some of them would be amazing. And, instead of using numbers, they should get actual names. That makes it so much less confusing.