Street Naming Procedures

 

The MPC Addressing Department is responsible for reviewing new street names and street name changes.
New names are submitted by developers for subdivision plats and occasionally by the state highway, county, or city road departments. MPC staff check for duplicates and make sure the names adhere to an established set of guidelines:
  • No use of "Old" and "New" with a base name.
  • No use of abbreviations or a single letter of the alphabet for the base name.
  • No use of a number as the base name.
  • No names that sound like others already in the system (e.g. Wray, Ray, Reigh).
  • No unusual punctuation that will confuse the addressing computer system.

Words like "north" or "south" may be used as prefixes to street names only when the street crosses a city or county map quadrant. Those same types of words, however, can be used as suffixes after any street name if they correspond to the quadrant in which the street is located.

 
Developers can reserve street names approved by the MPC Addressing Department for up to two years.

Changing a street name requires a door-to-door canvas of property owners and tenants along the street, and the name change must meet the approval of the majority canvassed. An application form from the MPC Development Services Department and a processing fee must accompany the name change request. The fee is waived for the city and county engineering departments, the E-911 system, and the state highway department. For further info see Changing a Street Name.

 

Review by the MPC Addressing Department generally takes about three working days. Then, new street names and name changes are submitted for approval to the Metropolitan Planning Commission which meets monthly on the second Thursday.

 

After the Planning Commission accepts the new street names, either as part of a subdivision plat or as single name changes, the names are submitted to the City Council or County Commission for final approval and entered into the Knox County database.

 

Objections can be voiced at any time throughout this process, and anyone unhappy with the approval or rescission of a street name has 30 days in which to appeal a decision.

 
Reviewing and approving street names is not an isolated activity. The MPC Addressing Department works closely with the U.S. Postal Service and the Knox County Emergency Communications District (E-911) on an ongoing basis to make sure addresses and street names are clear and concise for postal carriers and emergency personnel.