Some new addresses will be lining the streets of Selbyville later this spring.
The Mayor and Town Council on March 1 passed a resolution authorizing Sussex County’s Addressing Office to re-assign addresses to approximately 500 properties within the town limits. Those residences and businesses have been identified for re-addressing because their current addresses – composed of a number and a street name – are out of sync with neighboring properties and the town’s overall addressing scheme.
Property owners will be notified in the coming weeks of their new addresses. Only the numbers on select houses and businesses will change; streets names will remain the same.
The goal of the project is to provide first responders – police, firefighters and medics – with accurate, logically assigned addresses that can be located quickly in an emergency.
The Town of Selbyville has turned to Sussex County’s Addressing Office for its assistance, as the County has staff in place to handle such a task. Sussex County began its own project to re-address properties in unincorporated areas more than a decade ago, and since then, has issued more than 120,000 new addresses countywide.
In addition to helping emergency responders, the Town of Selbyville’s project will make it easier for the U.S. Postal Service, parcel delivery companies and the public in locating and serving the residents and businesses of the town.
Residents and businesses of the affected areas will be contacted by the County Addressing Office in the next several weeks. Those areas, so far, include:
· Tingle’s Acres
· Mill Pond
· Shady Grove I
· Shady Grove II
· Shady Grove III
· Industrial Park
· Gumboro Road
· Georgia Street
· Ruth Street
· Clendaniel Avenue
· Clendaniel Avenue Ext.
· McCabe Street
· Lighthouse Road
· Walnut Street
· Bunting’s Mill
Additional properties could be added if other problematic addresses are identified.
Town Administrator Robert Dickerson said the Mayor and Town Council understand that an address change may be inconvenient for some residents now, but for the greater good, safety and protection of town residents, town leaders believe this is a very worthwhile project.
“We hope the public appreciates that, too,” Dickerson said. “Perhaps Benjamin Franklin said it best, ironically when speaking about fire prevention, when he noted that ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’ ”
For more information, please call Town Hall at 302-436-8314 or Sussex County’s Addressing Office at 302-855-1176.
