City of Oneonta, NY Honorary Street Dedications

Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a process and criteria for the honorary dedication of streets within the City of Oneonta to commemorate individuals who have made significant contributions to the community and humanity. Honorary street names are meant to commemorate the honoree and do not replace the official street name or require readdressing of the street involved or any properties located on the street.

Public versus private streets. This policy applies to all public streets in the city of Oneonta. It does not attempt to regulate honorary street names on private streets and driveways.

Criteria for approval.

(1)

The Common Council shall evaluate and approve all honorary street naming dedications pursuant to the following criteria:

(a)

The honoree must be a natural person and have made a demonstrable and significant positive impact on the community or contributed to the cultural, economic, educational, intellectual, political or scientific vitality of the community or have made an extraordinary contribution in the service of humanity.

(b)

Proposals shall not be for names that could reasonably be considered derogatory, obscene or blasphemous.

(c)

Honorary designations shall be confined to the right-of-way within the vicinity of the home, organization, or location associated with the honoree and not within two blocks of another honoree.

(d)

The proposed name may not duplicate or be potentially confused with the name of an official City street name.

(2)

The Common Council shall consider the honorary street naming dedication at a Council meeting, and the decision to adopt an honorary street name based on the criteria in this section shall be effectuated through the adoption of a resolution of the Common Council and forwarded to the Mayor for his/her approval or veto as provided in the City Charter. Such veto may be overridden by a 2/3 vote of the Common Council.

Application procedure.

(1)

Requests from the public for honorary dedications shall be submitted, in writing, to the City Clerk, with an application fee as shall be set from time to time by the Common Council, in accordance with the following criteria:

(a)

The submission shall provide the name and contact information of the person or group requesting an honorary street dedication;

(b)

The submission shall state the name of the individual or group intended to be honored;

(c)

The submission shall be accompanied by a biography of and the reasons for honoring the individual or group, including the person's or group's relevance to the location being proposed;

(d)

The applicant shall include a map of the location of the proposed honorary street dedication, including total length of the street to be affected and bounding streets or other boundaries as necessary.

(2)

Applications for honorary dedications will be accepted during the month of January and will be considered for approval by the Common Council beginning in February.

(3)

Upon receipt of a completed application, the Common Council shall review the submission for compliance with the requirements set forth in this chapter, and shall have 90 days to make a determination on the application. This review shall include providing the Oneonta Police Department and Department of Public Works with a copy of the completed application, so both departments can evaluate and transmit a report to the Council to ensure the proposed signage will not be confusing to the public. Upon expiration of the 90 days, absent action by the Council, the request is deemed denied. If a proposed honoree is denied approval by the Common Council, the application fee will be returned to the applicant(s).

(4)

If a resolution to approve the proposed honorary street dedication is adopted, the signage will be created and installed by the Department of Public Works in accordance with this chapter.

Signage and restrictions.

(1)

In order to provide for consistency in naming of streets and to promote safety of the community, all honorary street dedication signs must conform to the following criteria:

(a)

Honorary street dedication signs must be mounted in a way that distinguishes them and does not detract from the primary street sign and therefore may be mounted above or below the primary street sign or in any other way that is clearly distinguishable from the primary street sign.

(b)

The honorary sign is of a similar size and shape as a standard street name sign. The honorary signs will be white legend on a blue background. Only one honorary sign will be allowed at an intersection.

(2)

Only one segment of street may be proposed for honorary street designation, and in the case of walkways, trails, or bicycle paths, the designation may apply to the entire length of the way.

(3)

Honorary street dedication signs are valid only for a period of 10 years.

(4)

If sign is stolen or otherwise vandalized, and the original applicant or designee desires to have the sign replaced, the original applicant/designee shall be required to pay for the replacement sign at the current designated rate.

(5)

Renewals, if desired at the end of the ten-year period, will be handled like new requests with all applicable rules and fees in effect at that time. If a renewal is not arranged, the honorary designation will be discontinued unless the Common Council chooses to extend the period of placement.

(6)

Signs may be removed at any point as deemed necessary by resolution of the Common Council.