SPRINGDALE -- Residents living on streets where names are to be changed will receive notification from the city, if the Springdale City Council approves a change to the city ordinance. The council, working as a committee of the whole, decided Monday to move the matter forward for approval to next week's regular council meeting.
Council members will vote on changing the city ordinance outlining procedures for changing a street name. The ordinance would now include a requirement for the city to notify, via a certified letter, those who own property on a street with a name to be changed.
Currently, the city requires only a public meeting before a name change. The city must announce the public meeting at least 15 days before the public meeting on the city's website and social media.
Ernest Cate, the city attorney, said the mayor's office will send the letters as the staff updates the website and social media.
Council members on March 28 changed the street name of Metroplex Drive to Animal Emergency Drive.
The public hearing was held before the council meeting, but no residents spoke.
The Animal Emergency and Specialty Center requested the change. The veterinary center is building a new facility at what now is 881 Animal Emergency Drive, Cate said.
The previous address of that property was 881 Metroplex, an event center, he said.
The change to Animal Emergency Drive affected only undeveloped property on the street, Cate said.
Requests to change street names are rare, Cate noted.
The city in 2020 changed three street names when the former Bethel Heights was annexed into Springdale, he said. Three streets in Bethel Heights had the same names as three in Springdale.
Before that, the last street name change in the city was Metroplex Drive from Rio Bravo Drive, Cate said. Rio Bravo was a nightclub on that same property.
The council on April 25 will set another public hearing for changing a street name from Robert Circle to Trailside Terrace.
Cate explained the new rule asking the city to make notice to all property owners on the street doesn't come into play with this change. The same person owns every property on Robert Circle and is working to renovate the duplexes in the cul-de-sac.
"They said they had no idea who Robert was," Cate said. "And the street is right next to the Razorback Greenway as it runs through Luther George Park."
Streets typically are named and receive city approval during the plat process with the city's Planning Department.