Planning Policies & Guidelines
Street Naming and Renaming Policy and Guidelines
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The City is creating a Municipal Addressing & Street Naming By-law. Currently, the City does not have a By-law to govern these matters.
The existing Municipal Addressing Policy & Street Naming Guidelines provide important direction on how municipal address numbers are assigned and how street names are determined, but they lack certain key components.
The Street Naming and Renaming Policy and Guidelines outlines the process for assigning street names in new subdivisions, polices on what types of names are permitted and the requirements on how to change an existing street name.
Policies
In the approval of street names, these Hamilton City Council policies shall be adhered to:
- The City of Hamilton reserves its right to rename any street, including duplicate street names, in the interest of public safety
- The selection of a street name should generally be in reference to people, groups, places, events and things related to the area, the City and its citizens, including, but not limited to, native flora, fauna and geographical features
- The owner, developer or applicant shall give consideration to names of locally important families, war veterans, local heroes or historical places or events of significance
- Names of living persons or companies used for the purpose of advertising shall not be permitted, unless by exception approved by City Council
- In the case that an owner, developer or applicant, after all other considerations, requires a street be named after his/herself or in the essence or derivative of a corporate name; it should be known that any street for these purposes cannot intersect another property owner’s lands or have frontage on municipally owned property
- There shall be no use of awkward, corrupt, discriminatory or derogatory names, in regard to race, sex, colour, creed, political affiliation or other social factors
- The Street Naming Policies and Guidelines and Procedures shall apply to both public and private roadways, condominium roadways, where names are deemed necessary by the director of development and real estate
- City Council shall approve names on all new collector and arterial roadways, which names shall appear on the draft plan of subdivision submitted to City Council for consideration
- The City shall not be responsible or liable for any costs of the owner associated with street name changes
Guidelines
New street names shall follow:
- That there shall be no re-use of former or discontinued street names
- New names must not be identical or similar sounding to any existing street name within the city of Hamilton
- Names suggested must not have more than two words with use of no special characters, such as hyphens, apostrophes or dashes
- Street extensions should continue with existing street names
- No new streets shall be begin with the use of “Old” and “New” as a base name
- No use of abbreviations, suffixes, numbers or a single letter of the alphabet as a base name in the naming of streets
- No use of names with numbers or words difficult to pronounce and spell
- Substantiation is required, (historical or personal significance) if there is any, such as the person’s last name
- Suggested street names are kept on a list for future use, if needed. These names are to be pre-approved by the City
- All pre-approved, held and reserved street names that were specifically submitted by the former municipalities should be used exclusively within that municipality
Street Type Designations
The owner, developer or applicant shall have regard to the roadway function, length and configuration to determine the street type designation.
| Street Type Designation | Criterion (applicable to) |
|---|---|
| Street, Avenue, Road, Boulevard or Drive | Major thoroughfares or streets of several blocks in length |
| Trail or Way | Streets which are winding or curved in nature |
| Terrace, Gardens, Grove, Pathway or Heights | Minor or short length streets |
| Lane or Mews | Narrow streets generally used for service or private roads |
| Crescent | Streets forming a crescent |
| Circle | Streets that are circular in nature |
| Gate | Short streets that provide entrance to subdivisions |
| Square | Streets that form part of a square |
| Court, Place or Green | Streets that form a Cul-de-Sac |
| Close | Streets that form a “P” shape with entry from another road |
| Hill or Rise | Streets that have a noticeable slope throughout the majority of its length |
If the new street is an extension of an existing street, which cannot be renumbered, then the use of these qualifying words are permitted:
- North
- South
- East
- West
- Upper
- Lower
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