[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Shenandoah County 4-26-1994. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Emergency telephone service — See Ch. 83.
Subdivision of land — See Ch. 142.
A. 
The Shenandoah County Road Name Index, on file in the office of the County Administrator, is hereby adopted as the official listing of names for streets and roads in Shenandoah County, and such streets and roads are hereby assigned the names listed therein.
B. 
As used in this chapter, the terms "street" and "road" shall have the same meaning and shall also include avenues, boulevards, highways, lanes, ways and similar street types that provide access to three or more occupied buildings.
The County Administrator is hereby designated as the agent of the Board of Supervisors of Shenandoah County and is responsible for the administration, implementation and enforcement of this chapter. The agent may delegate certain responsibilities assigned to him to other persons and/or agents with the prior consent of the governing body.
The agent is hereby authorized to assign names to any public or private roads in Shenandoah County which provide access to three or more occupied buildings.
A. 
No road within Shenandoah County shall be assigned a name on a subdivision plat or otherwise until such name is registered with the agent and added to the Shenandoah County Road Name Index. The agent shall have the authority to refuse registration of any name already in use or deemed confusing for purposes of emergency response.
B. 
No street or road name currently shown on a subdivision plat filed with the county or otherwise shall be implemented by a subdivision owner until such name has been registered with the agent and added to the Shenandoah County Road Name Index; provided, however, that this section shall not apply to any street or road presently constructed on which street signs have been placed prior to the effective date of this chapter. The agent shall have the right to refuse registration of any name already registered or deemed confusing for purposes of emergency response.
C. 
The owner of any subdivision or other development shall erect or cause to be erected, at his expense, street signs in conformance with this chapter at any and all intersections within such subdivisions or development upon the construction of any street on or after the effective date of this chapter. Where any subdivision owner is currently required to erect street signs but has failed to do so, the future erection of street signs shall be in conformance with this chapter.
The following procedure shall apply to the changing of public and private road names (including streets, avenues, boulevards, highways, lanes, ways and similar road types) which serve three or more occupied buildings that require naming in conjunction with the implementation of the Enhanced 911 Program. It is furthermore not intended for this procedure to replace current procedures used for naming new roads and streets serving new subdivisions or lots of record.
A. 
Having approved and adopted assigned names for all public and private roads and having held public hearings for assigned names for all public roads, the Board of Supervisors imposes a moratorium on road name changes effective the 26th day of April, 1994. From that date until the Enhanced 911 Program is implemented, the Board of Supervisors will accept petitions from citizens for changing names of roads on which they own property. After the Enhanced 911 Program is implemented, the Board of Supervisors will consider name changes as proposed by petition of a majority of the property owners on a named road.
B. 
The petitioners of any road name change shall also agree to accept responsibility for 100% of the cost resulting from the Board's approval of their petition. The full payment of this cost shall be received by the county prior to the official changing and use of the new road name.
[1]
Editor's Note: Added at time of adoption of Code; see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I.
The agent shall undertake a uniform numbering program for streets and roads in the county in accordance with the following determinations:
A. 
For the purpose of assigning address numbers to structures, a mile-marker system shall be established along all roads within the county with numbers assigned at the point where a structure's driveway meets the named roadway.
B. 
There shall be 1,000 numbers assigned or reserved for each mile of roadway; 500 shall be even and 500 shall be odd. Accordingly, along each 10.56 feet of road frontage, there shall be one even and one odd number assigned or reserved, so as the numbers progress along each roadway, even numbers shall be on the right side of the road and odd numbers on the left side of the road.
C. 
Similar to the mile-marker system employed on federal interstate highways, assignment of numbers along roads running west to east shall begin at the western point of origin (PO) and end at the eastern point of termination (PT). On roads running south to north, numbers shall begin at the southern PO and end at the northern PT.
D. 
If a PT does not intersect with another named road (as in the case of a dead-end road), exceptions to Subsection C exist. Since a dead-end road may at some time in the future be extended, the end of the PT of a dead-end road cannot be used as the PO for numbering. Therefore, dead-end roads running north to south shall have northern points of origins starting at the point where they intersect with roads running west to east. Similarly, dead-end roads running east to west shall have eastern points of origin starting at the point where they intersect with roads running south to north.
As address numbers are determined and assigned by the agent as provided above, such numbers shall be recorded in an official address number index and atlas to be maintained by the agent and kept available for reference in the County Administrator's office, the planning office and in the Emergency Services Dispatch Center. No building permit shall be approved until an address number has been determined and assigned from the index map and atlas or, in the absence of a listing for that particular parcel in the official index, until such building permit application has been referred to the agent for a address number determination.
A house or building number shall be assigned to each dwelling or other occupied building in Shenandoah County. The combination of such numbers and the road or street name shall be the official address of such dwelling or building. Such location shall serve as the official mailing address for postal patrons receiving home or rural delivery. The affected property owner or current occupants shall be notified by the agent in writing regarding the official address or any subsequent address changes. It shall be the responsibility of the property owner to notify the postal service, telephone company, other utilities and interested parties of any address change or new address.
When each house or building has been assigned its respective address, the owner, occupant or agent shall place or cause to be placed upon each house or building controlled by him the number or numbers assigned under the uniform numbering system. Such numbers shall be placed on existing buildings within 60 days of notification of the assigned address. Such numbers shall be placed on new buildings prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. The cost of posting and maintaining the address numbers in a good discernible condition shall be the responsibility of the property owner.
A. 
Residences. Address numbers for residences shall not be less than four inches in height and shall be made of durable material, contrasting in color to the background on which they are mounted. The numbers shall be conspicuously placed on, above or at the side of the main entrance. Whenever a residence is more than 60 feet from the street, or when the street address number is not clearly visible from the street, a second set of numbers shall be placed on a post or other suitable structure, located near the edge of the intersection of the driveway and street, so that it is clearly visible.
B. 
Commercial and industrial structures. Address numbers for commercial and industrial structures shall be not less than six inches in height if located within 60 feet of the street or at least 10 inches in height if located greater than 60 feet from the street. The number shall be placed above or on the main entrance to the structure when possible. If the address number is not visible from the street, a second set of numbers, at least four inches in height, shall be placed on a post or other suitable structure, located near the edge of the intersection of the driveway and street, so that it is clearly visible. There shall be no other wording or numbers within two feet of the building number.
C. 
Apartments, townhouses and shopping centers. Apartments and similar complexes assigned a single building number shall display address numbers on each assigned structure using numbers having a minimum height of six inches. Trailer parks and similar complexes assigned a single building number shall display the assigned number at the main entranceway using numbers having a minimum height of six inches. Numbers or letters for individual apartments, trailers or units within these complexes shall be displayed on, above or to the side of the main doorway of each apartment, trailer or unit, and shall be at least four inches in height.
Hereafter, all new street name signs erected in Shenandoah County shall be in conformance with the specifications of this section, unless an exception is granted by the agent.
A. 
General. All street signs, posts and mounting hardware shall be of a standard design approved by the agent.
B. 
Location. At each intersection of public streets within the county, at least one street name sign displaying the name of each street shall be erected and maintained. Whenever possible, street name signs shall be located in the right-hand corner of the intersection on the approach side from a major thoroughfare; when not possible or otherwise inappropriate, street name signs shall be located in the next most suitable corner as determined by the agent.
C. 
Sign descriptions.
[Amended 9-23-1997 by Ord. No. 97-7]
(1) 
Road name signs for use on primary and collector secondary roads shall have a minimum height of nine inches, a minimum width of 30 inches and a maximum width of 48 inches. The spacing and letter style must conform to spacing dimensions shown in the Virginia Supplement to the MUTCD using six-inch-high Series C upper case for the street name and three-inch Series C upper case for the prefix and suffix, unless a variance is approved by VDOT and the agent. All road name signs for the above-named roads shall be fabricated with high-intensity, reflectorized sign sheeting. The road name shall be white and the background shall be green. A blank space at least 2.50 inches high and 12 inches wide shall be provided in the lower right-hand corner of each sign to accommodate the VDOT placement of a route number.
(2) 
Road name signs for use on local secondary roads shall have a minimum height of six inches, a minimum width of 24 inches and a maximum width of 42 inches. The spacing and letter style must conform to spacing dimensions shown in the Virginia Supplement to the MUTCD using four-inch-high Series C upper case for the street name and two-inch Series C upper case for the prefix and suffix, unless a variance is approved by VDOT and the agent. All road name signs for the above-named roads shall be fabricated with high-intensity, reflectorized sign sheeting. The road name shall be white and the background green. A blank space at least 1.25 inches high and eight inches wide shall be provided in the lower right-hand corner of each sign to accommodate the VDOT placement of a route number.
(3) 
Road name signs for use on private roads shall have a minimum height of six inches, a minimum width of 24 inches and a maximum width of 42 inches. The spacing and letter style must conform to spacing dimensions shown in the Virginia Supplement to the MUTCD using four-inch-high Series C upper case for the street name and two-inch Series C upper case for the prefix and suffix, unless a variance is approved by the agent. All road name signs for the above-named roads shall be fabricated with high-intensity, reflectorized sign sheeting. The road name shall be white and the background blue.
D. 
Sign specifications. The nameplate for all street signs shall be of extruded aluminum design, fabricated from alloy 6063-T6 aluminum with a webb thickness of ninety-thousandths (.090) inch and an edge thickness of twenty-five hundredths (.25) inch. Reflective sheeting shall be 3M encapsulated high-intensity reflective sheeting which will meet VDOT Road and Bridge Specifications.
[Added 9-23-1997 by Ord. No. 97-7]
E. 
Sign post specification.
[Added 9-23-1997 by Ord. No. 97-7]
(1) 
All sign posts shall be Pozitube traffic posts, as per the specifications of Southwestern Pipe, Inc., or its equivalent, finished in high-visibility yellow with a prepunched hole near the top to accommodate a vandalproof post-to-sign bracket.
(2) 
All sign posts shall be installed using the Poz-Loc sign post anchor system as per the specifications of Southwestern Pipe, Inc., or its equivalent.
(3) 
All sign posts shall be two-and-three-eighths-inches outside diameter (O.D.) by nine-feet long with 0.080 inch wall thickness having a weight per foot of 1.96 pounds.
(4) 
Post specifications 238080-8 feet above ground Hvy A12 unit to be similar to Southwestern Pipe, Inc., specifications.
F. 
Sign mounting hardware.
[Added 9-23-1997 by Ord. No. 97-7]
(1) 
A post-to-sign bracket shall be used to mount signs on top of round two-and-three-eighths-inches O.D. post. Brackets shall be aluminum with heavy-duty construction, gussets and a minimum twelve-inch slot length when used with nine-by-forty-eight-inch-signs. Post-to-sign brackets used with all other signs shall be a minimum slot length of six inches.
(2) 
All bracket mounting hardware shall be vandalproof. Exposed bolt heads or nuts shall not be permitted.
Whenever the agent has reason to believe there has been or there exists a violation of this chapter, he shall give written notice of such violation of this chapter to the person failing to comply and order said person to take corrective measures within 30 days from the date of notification. If such person fails to comply with the duly issued order, the agent shall initiate necessary actions to terminate the violation through criminal or civil measures.
Any violation of this chapter shall constitute a Class 1 misdemeanor. Subsequent to the thirty-day period following notification of the violation, each day of violation shall constitute a separate violation.