By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
With the intent of maximizing speed and efficiency during emergency response calls, Village of East Troy officials could soon put out a request for property owners to review the visibility of their street addresses.
While technological advances, including GPS, have improved the ability to locate specific addresses with ease, East Troy EMS personnel have still reported having difficulty locating properties when time is of the essence.
“GPS is nice … but it does bog down emergency responders,” Trustee Forty Renucci said at a Village Board Committee of the Whole meeting Aug. 24.
The board briefly discussed the pros and cons of adopting an ordinance that would call for uniform metal address signs. The process has become commonplace, particularly in townships with sparse populations and rural settings.
But with a denser population, village officials almost unanimously agreed the metal signs, usually placed in a yard, near the road, is not a practical scenario.
Instead, plans are in motion to embark on a public relations campaign within the community to remind residents of the importance of having clearly marked addresses. The village will use different modes of communication, including the official village website and the newsletter.
“There are people who have their address numbers with an Old English script because they think it looks nice,” Renucci said. “But it’s tough to ascertain what the numbers mean sometimes.”
Officials also plan to ask property owners to check their foliage near address signs to ensure no greenery is getting in the way of the visibility of the numbers.
