Addressing Ordinance and Policy

Addressing Ordinance and Policy

Ordinance

In February 2012, the Board of Commissioners passed the Livingston County Addressing Ordinance. The ordinance incorporates the Street Naming and Addressing Policy, which was most recently updated in February 2012. As stated in Section 1 of the ordinance, the purpose of this Ordinance is to
  • Establish a system of assigning and correcting addresses in Livingston County to facilitate the locating of structures in order to protect the public health and safety by prompting reduced response times by police, fire, ambulance, and other emergency services
  • Provide for more efficient delivery of County services, such as building inspections, soil evaluations, health inspections, property tax administration, property mapping, and other county affairs
  • Provide for efficient U.S. mail and parcel delivery in Livingston County.
This ordinance is enforceable in the jurisdictions that have not enacted a similar ordinance.

Policy

With support from the Board of Commissioners, the Livingston County GIS (LCGIS) facilitated a committee that compiled a Street Naming and Addressing Policy that standardizes the addressing procedures to ensure accurate and consistent addressing across the County.  The Street Naming and Addressing Policy was first approved by the Board of Commissioners in April 2002.  The Address Policy Committee meets periodically to recommend changes to the Policy, which are then approved by the Board of Commissioners.  The policy was most recently updated in February 2012.
 
 In accordance with the Street Naming and Addressing Policy, Livingston County GIS issues addresses that comply with the United States Postal Service standards.  Visit the USPS website for information related to acceptable abbreviations for states and street suffixes.
The Street Naming and Addressing Policy prevents the use of duplicate street names throughout the county.  The Livingston County Road Commission is responsible for maintaining the official list of road names.  LCGIS works closely with the Road Commission to ensure unique road names are selected during the addressing process.  Road names submitted to the Road Commission may be rejected if they are duplicates of existing street names, sound very similar to existing street names, or are difficult to pronounce.  Additional guidelines regarding road names are on page 17 of the Street Naming and Addressing Policy.