MEMORANDUM 03-26

TO:MAYOR AND HOMER CITY COUNCIL

FROM:COUNCILMAN DOUG STARK

DATE:24 FEBRUARY 2003

SUBJECT:Annexation Area Street Addresses

You'll recall that I've been dealing with this issue since the former City Manager announced in July that the City was going to change all addresses in the annexation area from five digit numbers to the Homer City Code four digit system. The Borough wanted the change made because it claimed that it was needed to determine whether a location was in the City or Borough for the dispatch of police, fire, and ambulance vehicles. I pointed out in Resolution 02-76 that the area has a unified fire/ambulance system, that the police and troopers cooperate, with HPD answering most calls, and that electronic/computer screens in emergency vehicles will, within a short time, indicate exactly where a call came from. Changing the numbers would be a massive disruption to the 1500 affected residents who have already had their addresses changed by the borough at least once, and in some cases more than once.

On 23 January I met at the Borough building with the Mayor's executive assistant, the planning director, and the head of geographic information systems, and pointed out that both Kenai and Soldotna have a large number of five-digit addresses. Their city managers tell me that these addresses are long standing, and that the cities have had no annexations to speak of. The borough representatives at the meeting basically had nothing to say.

The best system would be for every address in the KPB to be on a unitary system. But that's not the way it worked out - Homer's system was adopted in 1975, and the phone company issued borough addresses until about 1999, when the borough planning department assumed the responsibility. They now say that they will not issue new addresses in Homer.

The emergency services argument to me is a non-issue. However, it is desirable to have a unitary system for the convenience of the public, and in the south peninsula Homer's system is the one. At the present time, most annexation residents use P.O. boxes. This will gradually change with urbanization and increased box rental rates. So the sooner the City issues street address numbers the better. And since Kachemak City has substantial problems with its numbering system, we should encourage them to use our system. With Homer joining that City on three sides, it would be a convenience to the public to have a unitary system.

RECOMMENDATION:

1. Have a public hearing on this issue on 10 March with notices in both papers and make a decision after the hearing.

2. If the decision is to go ahead with the expansion of the Code system, have notices published in both papers that new addresses will be issued in the annexation area this coming summer (so residents will be aware of the coming change in case they have new stationery printed). And they don't need to be putting new addresses on mailboxes in the middle of winter.

3. If the decision is to go ahead, have the Planning Division issue new numbers this coming summer and notify each affected property owner.