For the second time in the past month, Warrenton aldermen denied an address change request from the Warren County Commission for the new county administration building. At Tuesday’s board of aldermen meeting, the county commission requested the address for the new facility be South Highway 47 Lane or Avenue. The county is currently constructing a 36,670-square-foot, two-story facility along Highway 47 and Mockingbird Lane. The facility, expected to open in 2012, will house all non-court related county offices. The address for the new county facility, which was assigned by the city, is 101 Mockingbird Lane. Presiding Commissioner Arden Engelage said the proposed street name was forwarded to the commission by a county resident. Commissioners have said they prefer to have the address read South Highway 47 to assist visitors in finding the new building. “We thought when you get a road map and you open it up to Warrenton, with South Highway 47, you naturally start going south,” he told aldermen. “It would be easy for someone coming in from another county, another state.” City officials, however, feared the duplication of the street name would confuse more residents and even emergency responders. Ward 1 Alderman Phil Tallo made a motion to keep the address as assigned; Ward 2 Alderman Fred Flake seconded. The motion passed unanimously. “We’ve got a South Highway 47,” Mayor Greg Costello said. “People obviously know where that is. Now we’re going to call it South Highway 47 Lane or Avenue. I think it adds more confusion than helps the public. It’s still the situation where if you want a South Highway 47 address, well that is unfortunate. That is not the way you built your building.” Public Works Director Rob Hamlin, who is responsible for assigning addresses for the city, said how the front of a building faces dictates what the address will be. The county building will face to the south toward Mockingbird Lane. Had the city followed the addressing procedures used by MONENA, the Missouri chapter for 911 addressing utilized by Warren County 911, the county’s building would still read the same since the lone driveway for the county property is on Mockingbird Lane. The city addresses properties inside the city limits, with the exception of new subdivisions and developments which receive a five-number address by Warren County 911 when requested by the city. Later in the meeting, the city’s November building permit report listed the address for the county’s new facility as Highway 47, an item that Costello pointed out needed to be corrected. At the Nov. 2 board of aldermen meeting, aldermen heard a request from Northern District Commissioner Dan Hampson seeking an exception to the city’s policy on addressing properties. However, that request brought criticism from Costello who said it was “poor planning” on the county’s part to now seek a change. No action was taken by the board at that time. Following the meeting the county received a letter from the city stating the board of aldermen had denied the request. However, the letter further stated the city would consider a name change to the street. Since then, commissioners said a county resident forwarded the idea of changing Mockingbird Lane to South Highway 47. On Nov. 29, the county commission voted unanimously to propose changing the street to South Highway 47 Lane or Avenue The county also received a letter dated Dec. 7 from MoDOT showing that the maintenance and traffic engineers would have no issue if the road was renamed South Highway 47 Lane. “Our concern is to make it easy, accessible to the public and surrounding communities,” Engelage said. “The building, you will see it. The main thing is getting in the right direction first. I think when they are called out or emergency services, I think they will know where to go. I don’t think that will be the problem.” At Tuesday’s meeting, Hamlin commented that he had spoken with Warren County 911 officials and two concerns raised dealt with duplicating an already existing street name and naming a city street after a state highway. He also was told by 911 officials that future state legislation may require streets to be readdressed, possibly eliminating the South Highway 47 designation if approved. “If we do this one time, we have to do it for everybody,” Hamlin remarked. “If you look at the history, you look at the code, it’s been done this way for a long time. It’s in our code to do it this way. I feel like we need to have some consistency on how we address.” Ward 1 Alderman Dan Dieckmann said the South Highway 47 designation may cause confusion for residents who live on Tomahawk Lane, an area that is served only by Mockingbird Lane. “It would be confusing to them when giving directions in the future,” Dieckmann said. “. . .The name struck me as confusing.” Ward 3 Alderman John Clark suggested the county commission find another name more suitable. “I think the two names you are suggesting are a problem,” he said. “I think you are missing a good opportunity to change the name of the street to something that is good for you.”