Liberty County approves numbering policy for unincorporated roads, directs staff to find GIS/911 tool

Liberty County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved a policy to keep numeric County Road designations for major thoroughfares in unincorporated areas while allowing subdivision and smaller streets to use names if the county permit department approves them.

The court’s action followed a lengthy discussion about confusion for emergency dispatch and other county systems when developers use street names that duplicate names in other jurisdictions. Melinda, a county records/addresses staff member, told the court the county adopted more of the numeric system after it got a new 9-1-1 system: "Yes, sir. And it was more prominent after we got the new 911 system," she said.

The court’s decision, moved by Commissioner Bruce and carried by voice vote, also directs staff to identify and implement a geographic information system or database (the court discussed ESRI as an example used by neighboring counties) to reserve and check street names across incorporated and unincorporated areas and to ensure compatibility with the CAD system used for 9-1-1 addressing.

Why this matters: Commissioners said the county’s current Excel-based approach is insufficient for rapid growth and that duplicative street names create delays and confusion for emergency responders, voter registration, postal addressing and other county functions. Several…