Civic Address Project in Three Cape Breton Counties

SERVICE N.S./MUNICIPAL RELATIONS--Civic Address Project in Three Cape Breton Counties

During the next few months, you may notice some unusual activity around the neighbourhood -- slow moving trucks; technicians pointing instruments at your property. This activity is all part of a project that will record precise locations for almost every building and facility in the province.

Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations is working with your municipality and a private contractor on a three-year project to map civic addresses in Richmond, Inverness and Victoria counties. It is an important project that could have life and death implications.

For example, suppose there was an emergency in your home. You call 911 and fret through every precious minute as you wait for an ambulance to arrive. It is possible the ambulance driver cannot find your home because your address numbers are not visible from the street.

This isn't just an issue for rural Nova Scotians. Urban complexes like universities and industrial plants often have buildings known to frequent users as the Arts and Science Building or the Welding Shop. However, these buildings might not have civic address numbers. They may not even be on a named street. That makes it difficult for a dispatcher to direct help to an exact emergency location.

"In addition to helping in the delivery of emergency services, this information will be extremely useful and a real time-saver in our day-to-day business," said John Bain, executive director of the Rural Cape Breton District Planning Commission. "We have been and will continue to be committed to work with the province on this important project."

After the civic addressing project is complete, fire, police and ambulance services will have precise coordinates -- accurate to two and a half metres -- for almost every home, farm, factory, business and public facility in the province.

The project begins with a meeting between Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations and your municipality, emergency services, provincial agencies (such as the Emergency Measures Organization) and federal agencies. Once agreement is reached on such things as municipal boundaries and service areas, existing information will be checked and used as a starting point.

Survey crews will then inventory buildings and facilities across the counties. The crews may stop in front of your home or business for 10-15 minutes and record information. For larger properties, or properties set in from the road, the survey crews may need come on to your property with handheld technical equipment for a more accurate reading.

Crews will also be able to answer any questions you have regarding the process. They will explain what they are doing and will likely provide you with a copy of the Civic Addressing Project brochure. All survey vehicles will have a Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations sign bearing the Nova Scotia Civic Address Project name.

After the survey is complete, another team will verify the information that has been collected. From there, the database will be plotted on high-resolution computerized maps and shared with government offices for planning use and with emergency services to improve response times.

Private-sector agencies like Canada Post and transportation providers will also benefit from the new accurate addressing information.

"A pilot project has been completed in Cumberland County and the results are impressive," said Nancy Vanstone, executive director of Registry and Information Management Systems with Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations. "We are anxious to move on and complete the province as quickly as possible."

Posting your address numbers where they are easily seen from the road is an important part of the project.

"A by-law was passed recently by the Richmond County Council which requires all civic numbers be posted," said Mr. Bain.

For more information about what makes an easily visible address number, or to confirm your correct address, contact the District Planning Commission office. The telephone number is in the Port Hawkesbury section of your telephone book. Often, local volunteer fire departments can provide proper address numbers for a nominal fee.

For more information on civic addressing visit the Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations Web site at www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/land, call 1-800-388-3911, or visit the District Planning Commission Web site at www.rcbplan.ns.ca .