Work underway on county-wide addressing system

Work is currently underway to identify all the roads in Boundary County, public and private, that need to have names attached to them.

The Boundary County Uniform Address and Street Naming Ordinance ordinance (for the full text, click here) was adopted June 21, 2004. Under that ordinance, a five-member Boundary County Street Naming Committee will be formed, with members serving four-year terms with the task of determining the process to be used and then putting names to all of Boundary County's roads. Those interested in serving on the committee are asked to send a letter of interest to Planning & Zoning, P.O. Box 419, Bonners Ferry, ID 83805, or send it by email to gfalcon@boundarycounty.org.

County GIS technician Gary Falcon, who spearheaded the effort on developing the ordinance that, is paving the way for a permanent addressing system that will meet the needs of the U.S. Postal Service and advancing 911 technology, working to identify and plot all roads that serve three or more residences or other addressable structures so they can be included on accurate maps that will be made available to emergency services personnel.

He needs the assistance of county residents to find them all, and to obtain permission to be on those private roads so he can develop the mapping coordinates.

County residents living on private roads that access three or more residences are encouraged to call Falcon at 267-5395, the information can be mailed to Gary Falcon, P.O. Box 419, Bonners Ferry, ID 83805, you can use the form below to submit the information electronically, or you can click here for a printable form that can be dropped off at the Planning and Zoning Office, Room 16 in the courthouse, or fax it to (208) 267-1205. Falcon is in his county office on Monday and Wednesday.

The county is also accepting proposed names for those private roads. According to Falcon, the ideal would be for all the residents served by that road to meet and agree on a proposed road name and two alternative names to submit, as this will considerably reduce the conflicts the committee will have when they are forced to select a name on their own to recommend to Boundary County Commissioners. Full details on naming requirements are included in the ordinance, but basically there can be no duplicated names, either by spelling or sound, can't contain the words "north," "south," "east," or "west," and can't exceed 16 letters in length. As above, suggested road names should be submitted to the attention of the GIS Technician, and may be included in "additional comments," below.