Duplicate Street Names and Emergency Response.

The Urban Environment and Development Committee recommends that the Interim Functional Lead, Transportation, be requested not to approve any additional names for new streets, which may be a duplication of existing street names, until such time as a policy has been established by Council.

The Urban Environment and Development Committee reports, for the information of Council, having requested the Interim Functional Lead, Transportation, to submit a report to the Urban Environment and Development Committee with a list of the existing identical street names and the duplicate street names with different type extensions that were created in the new City of Toronto.

The Urban Environment and Development Committee submits the following report (March 4, 1998) from the Interim Functional Lead, Transportation:

Purpose:

The purpose of this report is to provide a status report on the investigation of the issue of duplicate street names which now exist in the City of Toronto as a result of amalgamation.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

No financial implications have been identified to date.

Recommendation:

It is recommended that this report be received for information.

Background:

The Urban Environment and Development Committee on February 9, 1998, requested the Interim Functional Lead for Transportation to investigate this matter and submit a report to the next meeting of the Committee.

Discussion:

In consultation with the Interim Functional Lead for Planning, Bell Canada 9-1-1 Emergency Service and the Toronto Police Service, the following information was obtained as a result of a preliminary investigation into the issue of duplicate street names.

As a result of amalgamation, 103 pairs/triplets of identical street names were created in the new City of Toronto (i.e., 98 pairs, 5 triplets). These streets were formerly in distinct municipalities; however, as of January 1, 1998, they are now found within the same city. The issue is further complicated by the occurrence of some 600 duplicate street names with different type extensions (e.g., Centre Avenue and Centre Road).

Bell 9-1-1 Emergency Services submitted a letter to the City Clerk dated December 22, 1997, which outlined concerns over changes required to the address databases from the various municipal amalgamations across the Province. These databases are used extensively by emergency response personnel in municipalities throughout Ontario. Bell 9-1-1 staff anticipate that the number of address changes will be significant and the scheduling of these changes will be a major undertaking. They have suggested a process at their end to receive, quantify and schedule changes in order that updates are carried out expeditiously and accurately. This process requires municipalities to ultimately eliminate duplicate street names by determining new street names, passing appropriate by-laws, officially advising residents of new addresses and revising maps. For an interim period, Bell 9-1-1 will maintain the former municipal name as the city identifier within its database in order to avoid ambiguity between like street names within the new City of Toronto. Bell has also provided the name of a contact person with whom changes will be co-ordinated when database information is ready to be updated.

Correspondence received from Canada Post indicates that it is also prepared to assist in resolving the duplicate street name matter and provided the name of a contact person with whom to co-ordinate. Presumably, the postal code can be used to distinguish between duplicate streets for purposes of mail delivery; however, this will be confirmed with Canada Post upon further investigation.

In addition, the City will need to implement a system to avoid confusion in the delivery of municipal services on streets where duplicate names exist.

Transportation staff have been attempting to learn from the experiences of other major North American cities (i.e., Halifax, Winnipeg, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles) with respect to how the issue of duplicate street names was resolved in the course of their municipal mergers. Electronic mail messages have been sent to departments within these cities; however, a complete set of responses has not yet been received. To date, Halifax has indicated that it is using a geographic identifier (i.e., east, west, etc.) attached to the street name to distinguish between duplicates; whereas, Winnipeg went through a rigorous process of changing one of each of the pairs of duplicate street names to eliminate the confusion.

At this point, there appears to be a range of options which needs to be considered further and could potentially resolve the problem of duplicate street names in the new City of Toronto. Alternatives include:

(1) utilizing call display technology for both emergencies and other services to distinguish the location between like street names for incoming calls; however, not all calls received are from the location where service is required and cellular phones cannot be traced with this feature;

(2) using the postal code identifier as a means of distinguishing between duplicate street names for mail delivery and other services;

(3) using a regional designation applied to the street name (e.g., east, west, central, former municipal name, etc.) to identify street names where duplicates are created; and

(4) changing street names through appropriate public notification/consultation and legislative by-law amendments in order to eliminate like street names.

Conclusions:

Further investigation by transportation staff, in co-operation with staff of other departments, organizations and cities, is required before a resolution for dealing with duplicate/triplicate street names can be recommended to Committee and Council. A report will be prepared for consideration by the Urban Environment and Development Committee at an upcoming meeting. In the interim, emergency response dispatch will continue to utilize the former municipal identifier through the current Bell 9-1-1 system.

Contact Name:

Mr. Gary H. Welsh, P.Eng., Director, Road and Traffic Services, Works and Environment, 396-5061, Fax: 396-5681; E-mail: welsh@city.scarborough.on.ca.