Consider Alternate Street Names in The COR

Purpose:
The purpose of this case is to discuss whether three street segments within The COR, Xenolith Street, Yolite Street, and Zeolite Street, south of Bunker Lake Boulevard and north of Veteran’s Drive, should be renamed, and if so, to what.
 
Background:
On more than one occasion, the Public Works Committee has discussed concerns with one or more street names within The COR.  On February 20th, the Committee confirmed they are most concerned with the street names of Xenolith, Yolite, and Zeolite, noting that the names are bizarre and could cause concerns for developers looking to locate their business in The COR.  As such, the Committee directed Staff to report back with some alternative street names at the next regularly scheduled meeting on March 20th.
 
The COR is generally bounded by Armstrong Boulevard/CR 83 on the west, Bunker Lake Boulevard/CR 116 on the north, Ramsey Boulevard/CR 57 on the east, and the BNSF Railroad right-of-way on the south.  The majority of existing street names within The COR are based on the Anoka County street grid naming convention, except for Veterans Drive, Center Street, and Ramsey Parkway.  The street grid naming convention within the City of Ramsey includes Football Greats, Mammals, Rocks, Elements, and Indian Tribes, progressing from west to east.
 
Deviating from the County street grid naming convention was recently discussed when the Riverstone residential development was platted in 2017.  At that time, the City Council approved naming two street segments with names not included in the Anoka County grid, revising Quagga to Quintana Street, and Sloth to Snowy Owl Street.
 
Staff from various departments recently met to discuss potential alternatives for re-naming three streets in The COR per Public Works Committee direction.  The Staff that would be impacted most by re-naming streets is public safety.  In general, public safety Staff object to re-naming streets, whether in The COR or other areas of the City, due to concerns with the confusion this could create for emergency responders trying to quickly locate an address, especially responders coming from outside the City.  Street names are therefore an important component of public safety response, which can have a significant impact on response times and outcomes.  Public safety Staff also noted that during emergencies, electronic navigation might not be available so responders must rely on their knowledge of the City’s street naming convention to locate addresses.  For these reasons, public safety Staff recommend that the City follow the County’s street naming grid system, or come up with its own street naming convention that is consistent throughout the City.
 
 

Staff estimates this case will take 15 minutes to present and discuss.

The options Staff discussed were to potentially select new street names common to a theme related to The COR.  For instance, Veterans Drive is an existing street name that does not follow the standard street naming grid, so three new street names could be selected in this patriotic theme.  Per Public Works Committee direction, Staff searched for patriotic themed names starting in X, Y and Z.  Unfortunately, no patriotic themed names could be found starting with X or Z, but Yankee could be used for a “Y” street name.

Options increase if the City is willing to consider names outside of the alpha-order.  Based the place context, the City could consider such names as 'City Hall', 'Municipal', 'Lake Ramsey', 'Plaza Park', 'Northstar', 'Railroad', or 'Station' as Street names. 
Historic names might include:  Red River Ox Cart, Itasca Village, Robert's Ferry, or early settler names such as Daniel Harthorn, Jo, Emerson and Penuel Shumway Sr., Cornelius Pitman, Ever Harthorn, William Vincent, Hatch, Thomas Holmes, James Beatty (first post master),  Thomas Miller, or Warneke (early Itasca Hotel proprietors).

Again, the position taken by Staff involved with public safety/emergency response is that the City should continue to follow the County street grid system, or come up with its own street naming convention that is consistent throughout the City.  Public safety staff will again be available to address and answer any questions regarding their concerns.

No costs are associated with this request at this time.

Staff does not recommend re-naming streets within The COR.

To be determined based on discussion.