§ 6-34. Road naming.

(a)

Roads located within the unincorporated areas of Orange County, whether public and private, shall not be named or renamed by any method except those set forth in this Article. All existing, proposed, or constructed public or private roads or driveways that provides, or will provide, access to three or more habitable structures that are more than 75 feet from the main road shall have a street name and address range assigned.

(b)

Road Names.

(1)

New Road Names.

a.

No new public or private road shall be named without approval of the Address Administrator.

b.

The name of any new road, whether it is public or private, shall not duplicate or be phonetically similar to any other road already named within Orange County. This subsection shall not apply to the extension of existing roads, which should whenever possible be given the same name.

c.

New subdivision roads, whether public or private, shall be named prior to the approval of any proposed subdivision or plat.

(2)

Renaming Roads.

a.

Renaming by Address Administrator. Road names may be changed by the Address Administrator when the road name is a duplicate of another road name within a designated postal area or within Orange County and interferes with the accurate dispatch of emergency service or postal delivery. In addition, a road name may be changed when one road has two commonly used names or where portions of what appears to be the same road has two or more names.

b.

Renaming Request by Property Owners. Property owners who want to have the name of a public road changed for personal reasons must comply with subsections 6-34(b)(i), (ii) and (iii) below. Property owners who want to have the name of a private road changed for personal reasons must comply with subsections 6-34(b)(i) and (ii) only.

i.

A petition should include the existing road name, the proposed road name, the reason why the person(s) are requesting the name change, and the signatures of 75 percent of those persons owning property addressed on the road in question. Owners of a single parcel addressed on the road in question shall have one vote. Owners of multiple parcels addressed on the road in question shall have only one vote.

ii.

Name changes requests shall conform to Section 6-34(b).

iii.

The name change request shall only be approved after a public hearing is held on the matter as provided in Section 6-36 and the Board of County Commissioners have approved the petition for a road name change. The Petitioners shall be required to pay to Orange County the cost of purchasing new signs and erecting them prior to the name change becoming effective.

(3)

Multifamily Dwelling, Apartment Complexes, Townhouses, and Condominium Development Road Names. A road with one name shall serve all multifamily dwelling complexes, including apartment complexes, townhouses and condominium developments, and other similar uses unless the administrator finds that, in the interest of the public safety, the naming of more than one street in or near the development is warranted.

(4)

Reserving a Road Name for a New Development. Road names for new developments may be reserved upon written request to the Address Administrator for up to one year. If the requirements to finalize the road name are not satisfied within one year from the date of approval, upon written request an extension of one year may be granted. If such extension is not received, the road name may no longer be reserved.

(5)

Limitation. In naming or renaming a public road, the County may not change the name of any road name designation provided by the North Carolina Board of Transportation or the Orange County Board of County Commissioners unless the respective body agrees to such change. Numbers assigned to a road by the North Carolina Board of Transportation shall not be changed; however, the Board of County Commissioners may name the road in addition to the number given to it by the North Carolina Board of Transportation.

(c)

Content of Road Names.

(1)

Road names must use common spelling found in a standard dictionary.

(2)

North, South, East and West are intended to be directional features of the address system and will be used only when necessary, such as for distinguishing regions of a continuous road traversing several municipalities. A directional word should not be contained within the name of a new road and shall be placed ahead of the road name. A street or road may have no more than one directional prefix.

(3)

Only letters of the alphabet and blank spaces should be included in a road name. Road names that are numbers (i.e. First Street) must be expressed using alphabetical characters and not numbers. Road names should not contain the following:

a.

Symbols or punctuation;

b.

Abbreviations of the main title of the street or road name;

c.

Initials;

d.

A single alphabetical character;

e.

Words that begin with "old" or "new;"

f.

Offensive words or language in accordance with G.S. 147-54.7; or

g.

More than 20 letters including spaces.

(4)

All road names shall contain a road name suffix designation. Suffix designations of roads include, but are not limited to, the following terms: avenue, boulevard, court, circle, lane, parkway, place, road, street, trail or way. All street suffix designations may be abbreviated in compliance with National Emergency Number Association (NENA) Addressing Standards.

(d)

Physical Standards for Road Name Signs.

(1)

Signs for public or private roads or drives shall conform with the physical standards set forth in the United States Department of Transportation's Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).

(Ord. of 4-21-1987, § 4, eff. 4-21-1987; Amend. of 12-13-2011, eff. 12-13-2011)