Carmel-by-the-Sea group proposes AMS‑compatible street‑numbering to improve emergency response and data compatibility

At a community workshop on Wednesday, an ad hoc group of residents and city staff outlined a plan to give every building in Carmel‑by‑the‑Sea a standardized, Address Management System (AMS)‑compatible street number and described a multi‑step process to gain county and U.S. Postal Service acceptance.

The group said the change would not force home mail delivery or require the post office to close but would make buildings “findable” in national databases used by utilities, mapping platforms and emergency dispatch. “The United States Postal Service … is the primary authority for standard street addressing,” said Emily Goree, the city’s administrative analyst, summarizing the group’s work with USPS staff.

Why it matters: staff and residents told the workshop that incompatibility with AMS contributes to delayed or failed deliveries, difficulty with online transactions and occasional complications completing government and insurance forms. The group also said dispatch and response are affected: Carmel’s local dispatch historically translates local, nonstandard addresses into county dispatch information, a step the presenters said can add “30 seconds to 3 minutes” before county assets are notified.

The ad hoc group and its scope: Mayor Pro Tem Bob Delves formed the volunteer group after an extended council discussion earlier this year. Delves described the team as a fact‑finding body created "to enable the city council to make a well informed decision" on whether to implement standardized addresses. Participants named at the workshop included Nancy Toomey (frequent city volunteer and Carmel Residents Association representative), Kevin Roos (prototype lead on numbering schemes), Paula (former long‑serving city council member), Hans Bueter (city councilor who earlier coined the…