The Village of Glendon council is considering redrawing the village map. The redrawing was seen as a strategy to cope with the trouble many people have in finding addresses and navigating the village.
One issue being seen with the map has to do with how properties are numbered and identified and one of the biggest benefits of the redrawing of the map would be increased response times from emergency services, said Mayor Laura Papirny at a town hall meeting on Feb. 27 at the Glendon Seniors Centre.
“The way it’s set up, it’s in quadrants. There are two first avenues, you have two second streets, and things like that. In a small town, you go by people’s names, not their addresses. It can get confusing,” said Papirny.
“It’s a nightmare to find an address,” said one resident at the meeting. “Someone coming into town to deliver something doesn’t know where to go. It doesn’t make sense.”
Papirny noted that making it easier for emergency services to find locations is important.
“It’s worth it to save someone’s life. Paramedics will have an easier time finding an address. I’m on the volunteer fire department, and as a first responder, I know what it’s like to be trying to find these people, and being unable to find their address. Minutes really do count,” she said.
Papirny told residents a redrawn map was just given to council, and council wanted to talk about any changes before any action was taken. She added that the map could be changed further, should anyone have any issues.
Coun. Nancy Pelletier said that the map council was given was just a draft, and that there could be revisions and changes made to fix any errors that came up on the copies distributed at the public meeting.
Papirny admitted it could be a hassle, at first, to adapt to the changes in street names and numbers.
“We’d have to change everything, addresses, utilities, bank information. It would take some getting used to.”
But, residents in attendance felt it would be short-term pay for long-term gain.
“Even if one life is saved because of it, it’s worth it,” said one of the attendees.
