Item 6: PH - Ordinance Renaming 3rd/4th Connector

Home Browse Search

testified in support of recognizing prominent early Eugenean, Dr. Thomas Shelton, by renaming the street. He said that Eugene had a rich history of recognizing historic figures and the historical society felt that Dr. Shelton was one of those people deserving of such recognition. In response to a question from Mr. Hledik, Mr. Hart said he did not know if Shelton Avenue had been named in honor of Dr. Shelton. There being no one else wishing to testify, Ms. Colbath closed the public hearing and called for questions from the Commission. Mr. Lawless asked for further explanation ofthe problem of duplicating street names, which he understood was primarily a public safety issue. Mr. Kullby replied that the application had been referred to a variety of other agencies such as fire, police and the Road Naming Committee. He said the reason for not duplicating street names was to deliver City services in an efficient manner, particularly emergency services. He said the naming conventions and guidelines were established to prevent duplication of street names, to prevent street names that sounded very similar to existing street names so as to avoid confusion with existing street names. Mr. Solin, speaking for police, fire and other emergency responders, said that the City of Eugene operated Central Lane 9-1-1 Communications Center, which was the public safety answering point for the majority of this portion of Lane County, not just the City. He explained how locations were identified when calls came into the center and the need to expedite that identification and reduce confusion to avoid dispatching emergency responders to the wrong location. He said that was the primary reason for formation of the Road Naming Committee to review proposed street names through- out Lane County. Mr. Lawless asked if the 9-1-1 center's technology allowed for reverse identification of the caller's location. Mr. Solin said that was possible if the caller was using a land line but not if the caller was using a cell phone. He said even when a land line was used it needed to be correctly registered into the system in order to provide accurate information and when the street's name was duplicated elsewhere in Lane County that made it more difficult. Mr. Belcher asked if it would be better not to use the name Shelton at all because it already exists for another street. Mr. Solin said that 9-1-1 staff felt that the combined name Shelton McMurphey would be acceptable; but that a hyphen should not be used. Ms. Colbath asked if "Dr." could be used at the beginning ofthe street name. Mr. Kullby said that wa~ problematic because it could be confused with the abbreviation for "drive." Ms. Colbath, seeing no other questions, closed the record and called for deliberation and action on the matter. Mr. Belcher said it appeared there were two separate questions: Should the street be renamed and if so, what should the new name be both in terms of the proper name at the beginning and type of street at the end. He suggested the questions be addressed in that order. Ms. Colbath called for deliberation of renaming the street. MINUTES - Eugene Planning Commission Public Hearing March 14,2006 Page 3