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Misnumbered houses in Foster frustrate EMS and prompt council to consider signage and registry
Summary
Council, police and fire officials and residents reported inconsistent, non‑sequential house numbers and vacant lots with placeholder addresses, creating difficulty locating homes in emergencies; options raised include reflective driveway signs, roadhead number boards and a town registry for vacant lots.
During reports from the engineering board and public comment on Feb. 8, multiple speakers raised concerns about inconsistent house numbers and addressing across Foster that are hampering emergency response.
Chief Lindell told the council she has been contacted by fire officials and ambulance crews who sometimes cannot find addresses because numbers are non‑sequential or owner‑assigned. "There have been times when they go to emergencies, they can't find the house," the chief said. Residents and council members described instances where numbering jumped (for example, an 8 appearing before a 4) and some vacant parcels are shown as '0' in databases, causing confusion for dispatch and responders.
Suggestions offered included posting a clearly visible, reflective sign at the head of roads that lists addresses on that road; encouraging property owners to display 3‑inch house numbers on structures or mailboxes; creating a town registry for vacant lots so responders can reference a lot number instead of '0' addresses; and cross‑checking maps used by dispatch. Planning staff and the building official said they would investigate current addressing procedures and consult the town assessor/records (Susan Boucher) and the building official about improving visibility and registration procedures.
Council asked staff to explore low‑cost mitigations (reflective signs, public education about number visibility) while recognizing changing legally assigned addresses would create downstream burdens (postal, mortgage, insurance). No policy was adopted at the meeting; staff will draft options for council consideration.
