Residents in North Gresham could get new addresses

Residents in North Gresham asked whether they want the city to undergo a project to unscramble a street grid that is not congruent with the rest of the city.

Source: Gresham Outlook, Dec 28, 2015

Residents were first notified of this project at the end of November with letters from the city saying that a survey would be coming to gather opinions about changing the street names and addresses in the neighborhood.

The area impacted contains about 1,800 residents and is bounded by Northeast 205th Avenue, Northeast 226th Avenue, Northeast Stark Street and Northeast Burnside Road.

The street names in the neighborhood do not match those in the rest of the city because they were addressed under a different set of standards before the property was annexed into Gresham in the 1990s.

If the city moves forward with the project, the street names would be changed to be consistent with the rest of the city.

“When that area was annexed, street names and directions — northwest, southwest — were not congruent with the street grid that existed in the incorporated city of Gresham,” said Eric Chambers, government relations director for the city of Gresham. “You could be on ‘Southeast Whatever Street,’ take a right turn and be on ‘Northwest Something Else Street.’ There is no consistency to the grid in those areas.”

It would allow emergency responders, mail delivery services and citizens to find addresses more easily.

The survey, which was due back to the city on Dec. 28, asked residents if their address ever caused an issue such as receiving the wrong mail, confusion from people visiting or a delayed arrival of an emergency aid responder.

The survey then asked residents to rate whether they would feel very inconvenienced or not at all inconvenienced by a change in address, keeping in mind that the resident would have to do things like notify banks, utility providers and family and friends of an address change.

Lastly, residents can say whether they strongly agree or disagree with changing the addresses and whether they would want to speak with city officials more about the decision.

Ann Pytynia, a principal urban planner in Gresham, said the survey results will be delivered to the council who will decide whether to move forward with the project.