{"id":8632982,"date":"2022-10-12T04:58:26","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T11:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com?p=8632982&preview_id=8632982"},"modified":"2022-10-12T07:38:31","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T14:38:31","slug":"carmel-opts-to-explore-street-addresses-after-more-than-a-century-without-house-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2022\/10\/12\/carmel-opts-to-explore-street-addresses-after-more-than-a-century-without-house-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"Carmel opts to explore street addresses after more than a century without house numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

CARMEL \u2013 For most, visiting a friend\u2019s house for the first time or delivering a package requires only the simple task of typing an address into a maps app and pressing start. Except, in Carmel-by-the-Sea the task isn\u2019t so simple.<\/p>\n

You can try, but the city doesn\u2019t have street addresses.<\/p>\n

For more than a century, the small coastal town has gotten by with using unique house names or directional addresses to identify locations. Yet the tradition may not survive the test of time \u2013 or Amazon \u2013 much longer. To keep up with shifting community needs, the city is starting to explore the possibility of adding street addresses. The push came from the Carmel City Council last week, which directed staff at its Oct. 4 meeting to research the idea further and come back to council with more information at a later date.<\/p>\n

Though introducing some means of GPS recognition for Carmel-by-the-Sea residents, renters and business owners are on the City Council\u2019s list of priority projects for the 2022-23 fiscal year, the concept is decades-old \u2013 as is the city\u2019s reasoning for abstaining from the practice.<\/p>\n

The reluctance is wrapped up in ideals of city character. According to an agenda report for last week\u2019s council meeting, \u201ctradition and preservation of the city\u2019s charm, unique look, and culture have been at the forefront of its governing body and residents\u2019 preference in the past to reject implementing a street addressing system.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1929, for example, the city passed a zoning law that stated \u201cbusiness development should forever be subordinate to the residential character of the community.\u201d That notion of championing the city\u2019s personality over development has long been the impetus for Carmel keeping residential streets free of sidewalks, street lights, neon signs, mailboxes and addresses, initial staff research from last week\u2019s agenda notes.<\/p>\n

Of course, the tradition hasn\u2019t stopped people from trying. In 1926, City trustees passed an ordinance for house numbering of Carmel-by-the-Sea properties. The ordinance made it unlawful for the owner of any real property in the City to \u201cmaintain any house, building, or structure\u2026without posting securely\u2026visible to passerby\u2026a number plate showing in legible figures the number of said premises,\u201d according to staff research. The ordinance was passed by a unanimous vote but the city did not implement or enforce the posting of house numbers. Without any enforcement, the measure was eventually repealed in 1940.<\/p>\n

Years later, in 1953, the city even threatened to secede from California when the state considered making it mandatory to have house numbers.<\/p>\n

Modern qualms with lacking a street address, however, have brought the issue back on the table. And this time, with better reception.<\/p>\n

Concerns voiced by community members vary from struggling to provide proof of residence to watching paramedics and fire trucks respond to the wrong house. Without the often expectation of having a street address, residents have expressed difficulties in opening or maintaining financial accounts, securing loans, activating or changing basic utilities like wireless internet, having packages delivered to the correct house or being \u201cfindable\u201d in an emergency as a matter of public safety.<\/p>\n

Workarounds to the problem, such as asking neighbors to be on the lookout for each other\u2019s packages or offering descriptions akin to \u201cit\u2019s the third house on the left,\u201d have helped patch some confusion. But community members turned out at last week\u2019s council meeting to explain that complications are common and increasingly frustrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to move forward into the 21st century with having our actual addresses,\u201d one speaker argued.<\/p>\n

Council members echoed points made in public comment, expressing their own troubles with the system, and ultimately directed staff to pursue a change in course.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there is one tradition the city will be hard-pressed to let go even with the addition of street addresses \u2013 daily trips to the town post office. Staff has assured that topics of implementing street addresses and at-home paper mail delivery are two separate issues, with their intention exclusively going toward pursuing the former.<\/p>\n

Staff maintains that the city\u2019s post office has a long local history as being a place where residents regularly visit to not only check their PO boxes but also make idle conversation. Determined to keep the social hub up and running, staff priorities while researching a street address program include protecting Carmel\u2019s post office and refusing to implement at-home mail delivery service. With these goals in mind, staff is in communication with Carmel\u2019s Postmaster to see whether establishing street addresses would compel the United States Postal Service to require mail delivery, regardless of city interests, explained Carmel administrative analyst Emily Gray.<\/p>\n

Once staff have a better understanding of what a street address program entails and would look like, they will return to advise the City Council on next steps, Gray said, adding that staff will likely not come back with more details until a new council is seated after the November election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For more than a century, the small coastal town has gotten by with using unique house names or directional addresses to identify locations. Yet the tradition may not survive the test of time \u2013 or Amazon \u2013 much longer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":878,"featured_media":8632983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"subheadline":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[162,182,812,51687,10111,161,51712],"tags":[34780,49650,39276,10050,675],"feature":[],"location":[3,2],"type-of-work":[50053],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"51687","primary_tag":34780,"print_workflow_body":{"deck_headline":"","print_title":"","print_subheadline":"","print_priority":"","print_placement":"cover","print_planned_deadline":"","print_pub_date":"","print_slug":"","print_content":"","print_budget_line":"","print_excerpt":"","print_notes":"","print_featured_gallery_richtext":"","print_inline_galleries_richtext":"","print_inline_images_richtext":""},"print_workflow_exported_ts":"","print_workflow_exported_username":"","print_workflow_shapes":"","print_workflow_side":{"print_section":52021,"print_status":9425,"add_export_buttons":""},"really_short_title":"","short_title":"","market_neutral_title":"","social_title":"","dfm_hub_post_id":0,"paywall_level":"metered","featured_media_content":{"content_type":"image","content":{"id":8632983,"title":"MCH-L-MCCVB-0305-01","filename":"MCH-L-MCCVB-0305-01.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MCH-L-MCCVB-0305-01.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2022\/10\/12\/carmel-opts-to-explore-street-addresses-after-more-than-a-century-without-house-numbers\/mch-l-mccvb-0305-01\/","alt":"","author":"878","description":"","caption":"Shops on Ocean Avenue in Carmel-by-the-Sea. 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