Planning Commission Chairman Michael Huck presented a report at the Alexander City Council’s May meeting concerning the proposal to change the names of four streets. The report follows Mayor Paul Mitchell’s request, during the April meeting, to research whether the city can establish a N. Main St. and a S. Main St.; reducing the number of street names down from four to two.
“This is something that I’ve been wanting to do (for some time),” Mitchell said in April. “The thing I’ve been wanting (to do) is to change Hwy 111 to South and North Main Street.”
The renaming will actually extend beyond Hwy 111. Under the mayor’s proposal N. Main St. will begin at Hwy 5, which is currently the intersection of Hwy 5 and N. Alexander Road. N. Main St. will travel south following Hwy 111 and Alexander Rd. ending at 3rd Street.
S. Main St. will begin at what is now the intersection of 3rd St. and Alexander Rd. and will follow Hwy 111. Where Hwy 111 ends is also S. Alexander Road. S. Main St. will continue to follow S. Alexander Rd. and end at the city limit.
During Huck’s report he said there may be a problem with establishing N. Main St. north of Cornerstone Road. After receiving input from Metroplan, Arkansas Municipal League, Saline County, and Pulaski County two facts were established. One; there are no state laws covering the changing of street names and, two; counties have sole control over the names given to roads and streets in the unincorporated areas of the county, while municipalities are responsible for the names of streets within the boundaries of the city. And, that’s where the problem lies.
Huck explained that Alexander Rd. is within the city boundaries south of Cornerstone Road. It’s at that point the Alexander boundary moves from the east side of Alexander Rd. to the west side; putting the remainder of Hwy. 111/Alexander Rd. and N. Alexander Rd. to Hwy. 5 in Saline County.
During his conversations with Saline County Huck said he was sent a marked-up map apparently showing an agreement between Saline County and Little Rock. The handwritten notations appear to show Saline County was allowed to name the southbound lane between Hwy. 5 and I-30 as N. Alexander Rd., while Little Rock named the northbound lane along the same stretch of road as Alexander Road.
It was at this point Huck recommended calling in the city attorney to sort things out with the various government entities.
“Have our people call their people,” Huck said. “Maybe we need an inter-local agreement with everyone to change the name.”
Mitchell said there shouldn’t be a problem having Alexander rename those roads.
“We provide the police; we provide the fire department. Why shouldn’t we name it?” Mitchell said.
Huck suggested asking Saline County if the city can annex the rest of the county to its line on the east side of Hwy. 111/Alexander Rd. and N. Alexander Road.
“That would put it all (the road) in Alexander,” he said. “Then we can name it whatever we want.”
During the April meeting Mitchell said he is aware there will have to be a process and this will affect the residents along the four renamed streets. There will probably have to be at least one public hearing to allow comments from residents. Also, 9-1-1 from both Pulaski and Saline counties will have to be involved in changing everyone’s 9-1-1 addresses to either N. Main or S. Main. And, of course, anyone who uses their house address as their mailing address will have to go through the process of changing those on any important monthly mail they receive.
Earlier in his report Huck said he had already researched which parcels will be affected by the name changes and has a mailing list ready to notify property owners of the public hearing, when it is scheduled. According to Huck 21 parcels in Pulaski County and five in Saline County will be changed to N. Main Street. To make the change to S. Main St. 22 parcels in Pulaski County and 73 in Saline County will be renamed.
Council members did not take any action on Huck’s recommendation.
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