Indialantic Sec. 28-1. Facility naming.
(a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to establish a uniform method to assist the town council in naming town facilities.
(b) Naming guidelines.
(1) A town council member, a resident of the town, a non-resident descendent of a former resident who contributed to the town who desires that a descendent be recognized, or a group or organization may file a request with the town clerk to name/rename a town facility.
(2) Facilities to be considered for naming or renaming may include streets, parks, dune crossovers, beach accesses, pavilions, piers, shelters, walkways and town hall.
(3) Names under consideration shall not include any names that include a political organization.
(4) Any person for whom a facility is named should be a person who has been deceased for a minimum of 12 months. However, the council may consider naming a facility for a person who is not deceased, or has not been deceased for a minimum of 12 months; provided, that the person has made a contribution or gift of an extraordinary nature. A street may be named for an organization or company.
(5) The request shall include a detailed account of the relationship of the proposed name to the subject facility, the contribution made by the individual to the town, an indication as to the worthiness of the individual as to why this request is being made, an indication as to the length of time that the person was a resident of the town, the current name of the facility (if previously named), and the physical location of the facility.
(c) Naming determination. The council shall consider the request at a noticed public hearing. Naming or renaming shall be accomplished by ordinance which shall be codified in the town code.
(Code 1993, § 2-300; Ord. No. 16-13, § 3, 7-13-2016; Ord. No. 2022-03, § 2, 1-12-2022; Ord. No. 2025-04, § 2, 5-14-2025)
Sec. 28-1.1. Procedure to initiate street; facility or park name changes; application fee.
(a) Application by town. A proposal to change the name of any private or public street or any public facility or park within the town may be initiated by a vote of the town council. Such vote shall constitute direction to the town manager and town attorney to prepare either an ordinance for a street renaming or public facility or park renaming. Said ordinance or resolution shall be classified as an "application," as that term is used herein. Applications initiated by the town council shall be exempt from the requirements of subsections (b), (c), and (d) of this section.
(b) Application by general public, real property owner, or other governmental agency. Every applicant seeking to change the name of any public or private street or any public facility or park, other than the town, including, but not limited to, an owner of real property within the town, a governmental entity other than the town, or other person, shall be required to file an application pursuant to the requirements of subsection (c) of this section and to satisfy the applicable requirements of subsections (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), and (i) of this section.
(c) Application form. A complete application for a change of the name of a street or any public facility or park within the town shall be submitted to the town manager along with the consent to change a street name form provided for in subsection (d) of this section and an application fee as set from time to time by resolution of the town council. All costs including notices, mailings, sign changes and associated costs shall be the responsibility of the applicant. When the town determines the costs to be greater than the application fee, an estimate will be provided to the applicant and payment for the difference shall be submitted for the application to be considered complete. Any unutilized funds will be returned to the applicant.
(d) Consent by adjacent property owners required for street name changes.
(1) For the purposes of this section, a property owner is defined as any individual, corporation, partnership, or other legal entity who owns in fee simple or holds a leasehold interest with a remaining term of 30 years or more in real property.
(2) At least 75 percent by number of the property owners who own real property, any portion of which abuts the right-of-way/street segment which is subject to the application for name change, must execute a consent to change street name form which form shall be attached to the application. A person who has executed a consent form may at any time up until final passage of the ordinance request in writing that his signature be deleted from the consent form.
(3) In determining if at least 75 percent of the property owners who own real property abutting the right-of-way/street segment which is subject to the application for name change have executed the consent form, the town shall ascertain the total number of properties abutting both sides of the right-of-way/street segment subject to the application. This number shall form a denominator of a fraction. The numerator shall be the total number properties whose owners have executed the consent form. If the fraction is not greater than 75 percent, then the application shall be deemed to be insufficient for further review and consideration. In computing the overall number of properties abutting the right-of-way/street segment subject to an application to change the street name:
a. Public streets and roadways owned by a governmental entity or property owned by the town shall not be considered; and
b. Private property which is contiguous at a point shall not be counted.
(4) Determination of property signatories.
a. In determining whether a person executing a consent form is in fact a fee simple owner of real property able to consent to a street name change as provided herein, the town may use the latest ad valorem tax rolls prepared by the county at the time of receipt of the application or more current evidence of ownership in the form of a deed submitted to the town. No consent shall be valid if it is executed more than 120 days prior to the date of submission of the application to change the street name, or if any of the required information is not completed.
b. The consent to change a street name form shall be in a format provided by the town manager.
c. A "property" shall consist of one or more platted lots or parcels of land which constitutes a building site for the principal use of the property. The petition and supporting signatures must be filed with the town clerk. Each signature must identify the property for which it has been signed.
d. In instances where two or more people own a property, the signature by all of the property owners shall be required to count the property as being in support of the petition. For example, the deed for the property indicates that it is owned by a husband and wife. Both the husband and wife must sign the petition for the property to be counted as in support of the petition. In instances where a trust owns the property, the petition must be signed by the trustee(s) authorized and required to sign on behalf of the trust to count the property as favoring the petition, and proof of authority to sign must be included or apparent from a review of the public records of Brevard County. In instances in which a corporation owns the property, the signature of the president or a vice-president shall be required to count the property as favoring the petition. In cases of the property being owned by a limited liability company, a signature of a company manager in the case of a manager-operated limited liability company or a signature of a company member in the case of a member-operated company, shall be required to count the property as in favor of the petition. In all other cases, the town attorney shall be consulted for a determination whether the petition has been properly signed by a property owner.
e. In instances where vacant properties exist on the roadway, the vacant property shall be included in the calculation as if a home or other principal use existed along the roadway. For condominiums, each unit shall be considered to be a property. For rental apartments, apartment building shall be considered to be a separate property.
f. Once the petition and the supporting signatures have been filed with the town, no person's signature may be added to the petition, but any person who has signed the petition may remove his or her signature from the petition; provided, however, that to remove a signature supporting the petition, the individual must write to the town clerk prior to the town council meeting to give final approval or disapproval to street renaming petition, to request the removal of his or her signature from the petition.
g. Upon submission of the petition with supporting signatures, the town clerk shall examine the petition signatures to determine that owners of 75 percent of the properties on the street segment where the street renaming has been requested have signed the petition. The town clerk may conduct a random sample of the signatories to confirm their execution of the petition by whatever means that the clerk deems appropriate. If owners of a minimum of 75 percent properties vote in favor of a street renaming, the petition shall be considered sufficient for further consideration.
(e) Amendments by an applicant petitioning for change of name of town street, facility or park. After the application has been filed, amendments are not permitted without the approval of the town council, or as otherwise permitted in this section.
(f) Criteria for renaming a street, facility or park. The following criteria shall be used by the town manager, or designee, to determine whether the town street, facility or park is eligible for renaming:
(1) The change of name of a town street shall not prove disruptive or adverse to the ability of emergency services, including police, fire, paramedic, ambulance services, and the county's emergency 911 system, to respond to an emergency involving the life, safety, or health of any person.
(2) If the request is to change the name of a private street, or a public street operated and maintained by other than the town, the town shall attempt to obtain consent to the name change from the owner/operator of the street.
(3) Required consent from abutting property owners for a street name change, as required in subsection (d)(4), has been met.
(4) Duplicate street, park, or public facility names will not be considered.
(5) Names that promote alcohol and tobacco products or political organizations shall not be considered.
(6) Names with connotations which by contemporary community standards are derogatory or offensive shall not be considered.
(g) The following additional guidelines shall be used by the town council to evaluate the request for renaming a town street, facility or park:
(1) The cost that the renaming will have on any other person that is or could be materially affected by the name change.
(2) Use of recognized geographic names.
(3) Use of natural historic features.
(4) Cultural or historical significance to the town or surrounding neighborhood.
(5) Preference to names of long established local usage and names that lend dignity to the street, facility or park.
(6) When naming for a person, a biography and other relevant background information must be included.
(7) The person may not be a current town council member.
(8) The person may have made a significant financial or other contribution to the town or to a specific facility or park.
(h) Courtesy notice.
(1) A courtesy notice shall be prepared and mailed by the town to the property owners of record of any parcel of real property, any portion of which abuts, as described in subsection (d) of this section, the right-of-way/street segment subject to consideration to have its name changed. Courtesy notices will also be mailed to property owners of record within 500 feet of a facility or park that is being considered for renaming. Failure to mail the courtesy notice, failure to include all information in correct form or substance as required herein, or failure of the intended recipient to receive the notice shall not affect any proceeding or action taken with regard to an ordinance to change the name of any segment of any street. The property owners to whom the courtesy notice may be mailed shall be those property owners listed on the latest ad valorem tax rolls prepared by the county at the time of mailing of the courtesy notice. Mailing shall be by first class, United States mail, postage prepaid. Notice shall be deemed to have been given when the courtesy notice is deposited in the United States mail.
(2) The courtesy notice shall state that a proposal has been made to change the name of a segment of a town street, facility or park, identify the existing and proposed name of the street, facility or park; the date when the change would go into effect; and the end points of the street segment affected. The notice shall also state the time, date and place of the proposed public hearing by the town council. The courtesy notice shall be mailed at least ten days prior to the second reading of an ordinance to accomplish a name change of the segment of a town street.
(3) This sub-section shall take effect on January 1, 2022 and shall only apply to applications filed after that date.
(i) Town council consideration. Following a determination that the application is sufficient for consideration or a vote by the town council to initiate consideration as set forth in subsection (a) of this section, the town council, shall review the application taking into consideration the preceding criteria and shall make a decision on the application.
(Ord. No. 2022-03, § 3, 1-12-2022)
