By Lexi McFarlane, Times Chronicle
New sub-unit housing in Osoyoos will now be allowed to add letter suffixes to differentiate themselves from the primary unit on the property, a move that will streamline wayfinding and align better with postal standards.
A street naming and building numbering amendment bylaw was formally adopted last week by Council, and addresses different property building approaches that are more prominent nearly 20 years after the bylaw was first created. A lot of new builds in Osoyoos are constructed with the option to subdivide and have two units in the same property.
Previously, only numeric designations were allowed to be used to differentiate between units. However, issues have arisen, particularly when a duplex, townhouse, or multiple buildings exist at the same address, and then one of those units sees the addition of a sub-unit. With the numeric prefix already in use, the addition of a second prefix creates confusion both for emergency responders and delivery services.
Most notably, Canada Post’s standards do not align with addresses containing two numeric prefixes, making mail delivery a challenge. However, a letter suffix can be added to the end of the numeric prefix and align with Canada Post standards in that manner.
Beyond updating the bylaw to allow for “alpha-suffixes”, as termed in the amendment, the bylaw saw some other minor “housekeeping” edits. These updates were to bring the Street Naming bylaw in line with other bylaws in the Town of Osoyoos.
The amendment bylaw received first, second, and third readings two weeks prior.
