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The Badin Town Council has established a five-member council to consider street name change requests for the town.

Antoinette Peoples, Bernetta Maske, Bridget Huckabee, Ernest Peoples and Mae Teal are residents and the inaugural members of the new Citizen Advisory Board (CAB) which will “offer feedback to the proposed Town of Badin street name change ordinance,” according to Town Manager Jay Almond.

Town council members reviewed the proposed street name change ordinance at the March 14 meeting. Changes are expected to be considered next month for adoption, unless additional changes are proposed.

In the draft of the resolution, guidelines have been set regarding road name requests. Those guidelines include:

• An individual person’s name is not allowed;
• A family name is not allowed;
• Directional and numbers are not allowed, as in North Star Lane or Four Corners Drive;
• Punctuation such as periods, hyphens and apostrophes are not allowed;
• All names must have an acceptable type, like Road, Lane or Path;
• Double street types are not allowed, such as Deer Path Lane;
• Names must be easy to pronounce and should effect a positive connotation;
• Names duplicating or sounding similar to existing names will be rejected;
• Limit entire name to 16 characters in length, due to sign-space limitations;
• Road names must use common spelling found in a standard dictionary;
• Only letters of the alphabet should be used;
• Offensive words or language are not allowed;
• Words that begin with old and new are not allowed;
• Compliance with NENA, USPS, US Census Bureau, GIS, E911 and guidelines;
• No duplicate names in county or town will be accepted;
• No business names will be accepted; and
• Individual names will not be allowed.

Proposed name changes will be submitted to Stanly County and its 911 Emergency Services for review to avoid duplicates.

If the name change is initiated by the town, no fees will be charged, according to the resolution. Reasons the town may change a name listed included “to eliminate or reduce problems, or to facilitate emergency service delivery.” A 4/5 majority of the town council will be needed to approve the name change.

Fees for name changes not initiated by the town will include newspaper advertising, certified mail to landowners living on the street name to be changed, public notice signage, hearing and notice of resolution and street signs to be posted. The fees will be paid for by the petitioner for the change.

After the letter for request for a name change is received and an application filed, the town’s zoning administrator, council and planning board will review those documents. The planning board will confirm property ownership and percentages needed for a “properly filed application” and will make a recommendation to the town council.

If the town council passes a resolution of intent to change the street’s name, a public hearing will be conducted in a future town council meeting, after an ad runs in the newspaper for four consecutive weeks. Signs will be posted on the street and certified letters sent to property owners abutting the street.

Ultimately, the town council will vote to approve or deny the request for the street name change.