County road names could change

By Dan MacArthur
Correspondent

Rural residents, Larimer County has your name and number.

Road name and number, that is.

This year the county will begin an ambitious effort to assign names and numbers to every private or publicly dedicated county road. Most county roads already bearing names or numerical designations will not be affected. Planning and Building Services Director Larry Timm said names will be retained for roads already bearing one except when they share the same name. In those cases, he acknowledged, some road names will be changed.

Timm said $128,000 has been earmarked for the project this year. Ultimately he said it could cost from $300,000 to $450,000. The expense will be shared equally between the county and Larimer Emergency Telephone Authority, which is responsible for maintaining the 911 emergency dispatch system.

Timm said the county contracted with a consultant about a year ago to analyze the issue and develop a course of action. He said that study, completed in September, further confirmed the need while proposing rules and an implementation strategy.

"It was very clear there's a serious problem in Larimer County," said Timm. Many private roads have no name or number, he continued, making it difficult for emergency service providers to readily locate properties when a rapid response really matters.

Larimer County Commissioners on Dec. 18 gave informal approval to the effort. Timm said it will begin with development of a draft resolution this spring followed by extensive public outreach. In addition to that public input, Timm said, other technical issues such as the relationships among the post office, assessor's office and emergency service providers will be considered in refining that draft.

Additional public comment will be accepted in a hearing before the county commissioners to consider adoption of a revised ordinance in September. Implementation will be an incremental process taking place over perhaps two years, Timm said. It first will be applied to new subdivisions. Then, working quadrant by quadrant, names and numbers for every road will be established or corrected.