Canyon residents don't want address change

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

Residents along Poudre Canyon Highway really don't want to be known as residents of Colorado Highway 14. It just doesn't make sense, they say.

Neither emergency responders nor thousands of tourists have trouble finding Poudre Canyon Highway, the residents contend. A Google search turns out 824 hits on the name, so to them a change seems unnecessary and even confusing.

It's all part of Larimer County's Rural Addressing and Road Naming Improvement Project, which defers to officially numbered road names unless the local residents can convince the county commissioners to let them keep their historic addresses.

Canyon residents are organizing a petition-signing campaign now and will present it to their neighbors at an April 8 public meeting sponsored by Larimer County. Signatures of residents directly adjacent to Poudre Canyon Highway will have the most merit. Petitions will be available at Columbine Lodge, Glen Echo Resort, Archer's Poudre River Resort and Sportsman's Lodge.

The county's planning department has notified Poudre Canyon and other Bellvue residents of two upcoming meetings to discuss the county's recommendation for address changes. The first is set for April 7 at Canyon Ridge Baptist Church, 4608 W. County Road 52E in Bellvue. An April 8 meeting will be held at the Poudre Park Community Center, 10234 Poudre Canyon Road. Both meetings start at 6:30 p.m.

The county has been working to make its addressing system logical and easier to use for several years now. In some cases, road names are retained but house numbers have to change because they are out of order. Addressing coordinator Karlin Goggin said decisions on address numbers cannot be appealed. If Poudre Canyon residents want to prevent an address change to Colorado Highway 14, they will have to file their petition with Goggin by May 7, and she then decides if the appeal should be taken to the county commissioners.

"There are bigger ramifications than saying we don't like that name," Goggin said.

The state will always refer to its roads by state highway number and will not use a different, locally approved name, she explained. "State Highway 14 will always trump anything I do," she said.

In the northern area, residents of the following county roads have successfully petitioned to keep their historic names: Overland Trail, Bingham Hill Road, Red Mountain Road, Rist Canyon Road and Old Flowers Road.