The City of Millbrae adopted the City Facility Naming Policy in 2014 to establish a fair, objective, and consistent process for naming city-owned facilities. The policy applies to city-owned buildings, park sites, and support facilities but does not include existing city streets, except for the naming of new streets.
The policy allows facilities to be named after individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the City of Millbrae. Such contributions may include extraordinary public service as an elected official, city employee, community volunteer, or through significant support of organizations or foundations that benefit city facilities and programs. The policy also allows facilities to be named based on geographic location, prominent natural features, or historical events associated with the area.
Certain eligibility restrictions are included in the policy. Individuals currently serving in elected or official city positions, or running for office, are not eligible to have a facility named after them during their service or for five years afterward. For deceased individuals, at least one year must pass after death before their name can be considered. Additionally, facilities may not be named after individuals convicted of a felony, and names that are offensive, derogatory, or culturally insensitive are not permitted.
The naming process requires that requests be submitted in writing to the City Council. A City Council subcommittee reviews the proposal and may seek input from city commissions or other stakeholders. The subcommittee then makes a recommendation to the City Council, which holds final authority over naming decisions. Approval of a facility name requires a four-fifths vote of the City Council.
This policy ensures that naming decisions recognize meaningful contributions to the community while maintaining transparency, consistency, and respect for community values.
The City of Milpitas adopted the City Streets, Parks, and Facilities Naming Policy in 2022 to establish guidelines, criteria, and procedures for naming and renaming city streets, parks, and other public facilities. The policy aims to ensure that naming decisions reflect community identity, history, and values while maintaining clarity for public safety and navigation.
The City Council holds the final authority over the naming of all city streets, parks, and facilities. A City Council Ad Hoc Naming Subcommittee evaluates proposed names and makes recommendations to the City Council, while public input may also be considered during the process.
The policy outlines several criteria for naming or renaming public assets. Names may reflect neighborhood or geographic features, natural or geological characteristics, historical or cultural significance, or individuals and families who have made significant contributions to the community. Naming may also recognize individuals or organizations that contributed substantially to the development or acquisition of a park or facility.
The policy prohibits duplicate names and discourages confusing or similar sounding names that may interfere with emergency response systems. Streets, parks, and facilities may not be named after currently serving elected officials. In addition, renaming existing assets requires careful evaluation to ensure that the original justification for the name is not diminished.
The Recreation and Community Services Department maintains an approved list of potential names for streets, parks, and facilities. Proposed names are reviewed by city staff and relevant agencies, including emergency dispatch services and the postal service, before being considered by the City Council. Renaming proposals may also originate from city officials, commissions, staff, or members of the public, and public notice and consultation are required before final decisions are made.
Street Naming: GOALS 1. To establish a process for street naming approval and selection. 2. To assist Council in approving suitable street names for all new streets in Milton by establishing criteria for selecting new street naming within the Town's commercial and residential areas. 3. To maintain a Street Name Bank of approved street names available for selection by the development community. 4. To have an impartial, open and research-based system for selecting the street names that commemorate individuals, including names associated with the neighbourhood's history. 5. To ensure that the honour of naming a street after an individual is maintained as a rare and high honour given only to those who have significantly distinguished themselves through their contribution to the community. GENERAL
• The Development Services Department shall be responsible for implementing this policy.
• Milton Historical Society representatives will provide properly researched recommendations regarding selecting street names that reflect Milton's cultural heritage.
• All new street names are subject to Council approval.
• Any substantive changes to the street naming criteria or procedures are subject to Council approval and require an amendment to this policy. STREET NAMING PROCESS Any person may propose Street Names, including, but limited to, individuals, organizations, elected officials and staff. Street name suggestions shall be submitted to the Development Services Department on the appropriate application form. CATEGORIES Street names must comply with one of the following categories:
• Names of Individuals who have distinguished themselves in positions of high office at the Provincial, National or International level.
• Names that recognize local individuals, families or businesses that have made a significant historical contribution to the Town of Milton. Names that recognize local history such as events, land uses and cultural landscapes (indigenous, pioneer, ethnic diversity) relative to the Town of Milton and the Regional Municipality of Halton.
• Names that acknowledge the Town's heritage resources, including historic buildings, structures, sites, natural features, local geography and landscapes.
• Names that commemorate war veterans from the Town of Milton. All new street signs used to commemorate veterans shall be marked with a red poppy.
• Names that recognize local citizens and organizations who have had substantial international standing in their chosen discipline or who have made a significant contribution to the community at a provincial or national level.
• The Town reserves the right to remove any approved names at any time, should condition makes it no longer to be in the Town's best interest. Review by Emergency Service Partners The Development Services Department will circulate all new street name suggestions to the Milton Fire Services Department, who will review and circulate them to other Halton Regional emergency service partners. The purpose is to address the potential duplication of street names within the Region, ease of pronunciation and spelling, and the potential for each suggested name being mistaken for other similar street names within the Region. Other New Street Name Requirements Street names should be short in length, easy to spell and easy to pronounce. New street names shall generally be one word except for special circumstances such as historical or geographic name recognition purposes. Commemorative names should be based on only the surname of an individual. However, it is noted that some individuals have common surnames. When this occurs, consideration may be given to using an individual's full name. The use of full names (i.e. first name and surname) will be generally limited to provincial or national significance. Names not permitted The Town will not permit street names that:
• Are too long (Ideally, names should not exceed ten characters in length)
• Are challenging to pronounce or could easily be mistaken for another street name.
• Are challenging to spell.
• Have unconventional spellings and do not accommodate ease of recognition and pronunciation. Contain apostrophes, hyphens and dashes. The possessive may be used but without the use of the apostrophe.
• Could be construed to promote alcohol, tobacco or other addictive substances, pornography, weapons or other life-threatening products.
• Present demeaning or derogatory portrayals of individuals or groups or contain any message likely to offend.
• Could be construed to have sexual overtones, inappropriate humour, parody, slang or a double meaning.
• Promote religious or political messages that might be deemed prejudicial to other religious or political groups.
• Could be construed as advertising a product, business, commercial enterprise or religious institution.
• Contain words that have already been excessively used in the Milton community. APPROVAL All suggested street names will be included in a report to Council that will consist of:
• the reasons for the suggestion:
• an assessment of whether it complies with the Street Naming Policy;
• a recommendation as to whether it should be approved or refused; and
• a recommendation as to whether it should be restricted to a particular area and the reason(s) for this. All names approved by Council will be added to the Street Name Bank and made available for selection. Names that Council does not support will not be added to the street name bank. The Council decision is final. SELECTION OF STREET NAMES The Street Name Bank is an approved list of available street names. In addition, any suggested street names that have been approved by the Council (and upon completion of consultation with the Halton Regional emergency service partners) will be included in the Street Name Bank. The Street Name Bank may also include locational restrictions related to particular street names. The development community must first use any Historical Names that Council has determined appropriate for the new development area. Council approval is not required for any names selected from the Street Name Bank, provided the location criteria have been complied with. ALTERNATE STREET NAME DATABASE An alternate street name database shall be kept for: 1. Nominated street names approved by Council for a public figure still in Office. These names shall only be allocated to new streets once the public figures term of office has ended. 2. Nominated street names approved by the Council that the current emergency system does not permit due to the use of a name already in use elsewhere in the Region of Halton or conflicts with the present emergency response protocols. These names shall be considered for allocation only when the appropriate emergency response system technology has been implemented.
