TITLE
A Resolution by the Mayor and City Council of the City of Maricopa, Arizona, naming the Recreational Complex collector roadway, which will facilitate access to the new Multigenerational Center and Regional Park, as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Discussion and Action.
AGENDA ITEM DESCRIPTION
A request was received indicating the desire for staff to explore the option of honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through a roadway renaming or naming. Staff conducted research on current roadway naming/renaming procedures and gathered information on the prominence of this practice.
Nearly 900 cities and towns in the U.S. have a street named after Dr. King. In most cases the roadway is associated with a prominent or public roadway and either near memorials, places of note or capitol buildings.
Staff first explored the option of renaming an existing street. A predominant number of local streets are residential in nature, and many of the commercial roadways that are active have existing businesses with investments in the current address, or are already named in honor of historic residents. It was identified that while a possibility, renaming an existing street could cause financial impact to current property owners as well as the City to change their records with utility companies, organizational letterhead, physical signage, etc.
Staff next identified possible prominent future roadways. The two projects that came to mind were the future roadways associated with the City Complex site and the collector road associated with the Recreational Complex (Vekol Park). Staff recommends the Vekol Park collector road for several reasons. It provides a place of honor along a significant public facility, built to provide quality of life services to all community members. It will be implemented immediately as the road design is underway and construction will take place as part of the Multigenerational Center and Regional Park projects. Lastly, naming a new roadway as op...
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