H.B. looks to get streetwise

Some Huntington Beach residents’ street names or street numbers will be changing if the City Council approves a resolution Monday.

The city is asking for council approval to change or clarify 5,100 street names or addresses to correct inconsistencies on maps and street signs or in various databases.

One hundred and eleven properties would have their street numbers changed, 57 street names would be changed to “Lane” for north-south and “Drive” for east-west; and the prefixes for Adams, Springfield and Utica avenues would be dropped, according to city documents.

The changes are a recommendation by the Addressing Initiative Committee to create a standardized address system to tackle long-term public safety concerns.

“While not critical now, technology is moving toward more automated response routing for emergency vehicles, and resolving these inconsistencies will help prevent future confusion and programming database challenges,” said city Transportation Manager Bob Stachelski.

The Huntington Beach Police and Fire departments were involved in the committee.

Police Lt. Russell Reinhart said he hasn’t heard of any specific issues with street names, but the changes would make the addresses uniform.

“It’s not like we have some big problem finding houses, but it makes it more consistent,” Reinhart said.

The city’s addresses have been a problem for the U.S. Postal Service and other agencies, according to the documents.

The city contends the changes will improve public safety, but some residents are unhappy about the possible change. Pacomo Petelo has been living in his home on Sims Street for the last 19 years and is upset over the idea of it becoming Sims Lane. Petelo said the proposed changes are “ridiculous.”

“This whole thing is intended to avoid inconsistencies . . . but I think it’s only going to cause confusion,” Petelo said. “I think it’s actually going to be counterproductive.”

Petelo said residents will have to update their employers, banks and the DMV and change any business cards, address labels and stationery if the changes are approved.

Leslie Edwards, a Geographic Information Systems analyst for the city, contended that there will be some changes, but for the majority of people affected, they won’t be major, she said.

Edwards said she created an informational booklet for residents on address changes. The booklet includes numbers, information and websites for updating address information for magazine subscriptions, credit card companies, DMV, taxes and more.

“We tried to think of everything,” Edwards said.

The city distributed the packets at the information meetings the city held, but Edwards said few people attended, so officials plan on delivering them if the council approves the recommendation.

If the changes are approved, they will be implemented over time, Stachelski said. Most of the changes are not critical to public safety and will be updated during normal sign maintenance, he said. The Public Works department will cover the cost of changing and replacing existing signs, which is estimated to cost about $3,000 for materials.

The City Council is expected to vote on the changes at its meeting at 6 p.m. Monday in City Chambers at the Civic Center. For more information, go to www.surfcity-hb.org and click on “Surf City Pipeline: Service and Info 24/7.”