Budget Question # 94: How many streets are named after Confederate generals, soldiers or political figures in Alexandria, and what would it cost to rename each one? (Update of FY 2022 Budget Memo 004) (Councilman Aguirre)

Response: 

The City has identified 41 streets named after Confederate generals, soldiers, or political figures. In June 2021, the City Council Naming Committee tasked Planning & Zoning with forming a pilot program to process the renaming of two to three streets. The pilot program’s policy and procedures require a citizen-led process to rename a street (see Attachment 1). As a part of the process, applicants requesting a name change must complete the following:

• Applicant meets with Planning & Zoning staff to determine if proposed name/s are appropriate based on established street naming criteria.

• Applicant works with GIS to gather a list of all property owners along the street.

• Applicant collects signatures for at least 25% of property owners along the street.

• Applicant holds at least one community meeting to discuss the name change prior to submitting the application.

Once an application is submitted, Planning & Zoning staff review the application for completion and compliance with the established policy. Staff report on the proposal for approval from the Naming Committee, the Planning Commission, and City Council. Staff anticipate that each street renaming will require 40-60 hours of staff time, equating to $2,600 per street based on the average salary for an Urban Planner II. Current staff have capacity to rename approximately five streets per year. If a faster pace is desired, additional staff resources would be required.

Once approved, ITS staff readdress all properties along the street, including working with USPS and updating addresses within all systems in the enterprise, including the 9-1-1 Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. The department would require additional staff resources to complete the renaming or would have to delay other projects. The cost of this is highly dependent on the number of streets changed at any one time. Based on the 2019 renaming of Jefferson Davis Highway, ITS estimates the cost of renaming one street to be approximately $20,000 in staff time. This total is a baseline unit cost per street renamed; however, economies of scale could be achieved if streets are changed in groupings because the processes could be performed for multiple streets nearly as efficiently as a single street. While street renaming applications are initiated by citizens at irregular intervals, ITS could recognize these efficiencies by processing the approved applications in groups. By grouping street renames together, each subsequent street rename would only raise the cost by 10% (or an additional $2,000) per street. The examples below illustrate estimated ITS costs depending on the number of street changes made in each grouping.

Because the renaming process is citizen led, there may be significant time between applications, potentially limiting the ability to group renames.

T&ES is responsible for changing the street signs. Such costs are dependent on the length of the street and range from $153 to $48,318 for labor and materials, so costs per street or group of streets is widely variable. The total cost is roughly $175,000 to replace signs for the 41 streets identified.

Printable Version

Attachment 1 Confederate Street Renaming Policy August 2021