Proposed Gabbard Road name change
Gabbard Road. Possibly, soon to be known as 'North Traditions Drive,' or, nostalgically, 'the road formerly known as Gabbard.'
We received this today from the City of Bryan (I made some parts red for emphasis):
From: “Zimmermann, Martin” <mzimmermann@bryantx.gov>
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2010 10:54:06 -0500
Subject: proposed Gabbard Road street name changeIn order to establish a more consistent and continuous street naming system and to simplify street identification by delivery services, emergency services as well as visitors and the general public, City staff is proposing to change the name of Gabbard Road to North Traditions Drive. Please also refer to the map attached to this email.
The Bryan City Council will consider this street name change proposal during its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, April 27, 2010. The meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. in City Council chambers on the first floor of the Bryan Municipal Office Building, 300 South Texas Avenue. At this public hearing, the public has an opportunity to express their views on this matter.
The purpose of this email is to inform you and your neighborhood association of the nature of this proposal and the public hearing date. I urge you to share this information with your association’s members. The City of Bryan has already notified four property owners that currently have an address on Gabbard Road by postcard notification. If the street name change is approved by the City Council, then City staff will notify all property owners in the Westwood Estates Subdivision.
If anyone in your association has any questions, comments or concerns regarding this street name change proposal, please have them contact me at (979) 209-5030.
Sincerely,
Martin Zimmermann, AICP
Planning Administrator
City of Bryan, Texas
979.209.5030 (phone)
979.209.5035 (fax)
www.bryantx.gov
If you have thoughts on this, or are planning to attend the meeting on the 27, please leave a comment here.
7 responses to “Proposed Gabbard Road name change”
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I am very much against renaming Gabbard. Gabbard Road has been there long before North Traditions was even an idea. They knew that Gabbard was already in place, so they should have continue with Gabbard instead of trying to rename the road. Due to another commitment I will not be able to be a the meeting on Tuesday!
Perrette, thanks for your response. Please contact Mr. Zimmerman and let him know your feelings on the matter.
For those not on the Yahoo Group email list, here’s an interesting item. One of our Board members asked what the historical precedent may have been in the original naming of Gabbard Road. I wondered if it was named after the same person that Gabbard Park in College Station was named after. Here’s the response from Mr. Zimmermann from the City of Bryan:
4/8/2010, 11am, mzimmermann@bryantx.gov writes:
In order to establish … to simplify street identification by delivery services, emergency services as well as visitors and the general public, City staff is proposing to change the name of Gabbard Road to North Traditions Drive. …
– – – – – –
Clyde Garland responds:
A street name with “North” as the first word of
the name does not “simplify street identification.”
It complicates it, since it will not be listed the same
way in various indexes, with the main ones being,
US Post Office, Phone Books, Tax records and County Voter list.
Its usually not even listed the same way in the same index, since each data entry person makes up their own way to handle North, No, No., N, N. and if it will be listed first or last.
So, if the goal is “to simplify street identification,”
the following street names should be changed:
North Traditions Drive
South Traditions Drive
The following are examples of how to rename these
streets so that they will appear the same in all indexes:
Traditions North Drive
Traditions South Drive
I like Mr. Garland’s idea with a small change, Traditions Drive North, Traditions Drive South. My preference, though, would be to stick with Gabbard. I doubt that will happen. I’ve already had an experience where Traditions trumps my property concerns.
I frequently read that the City of Bryan is short of money and is looking for ways to save tax-payer money. I am against the City spending money needlessly on something that should be left alone. I understand the need to clarify addresses – I own an inexpensive GPS which sorts that out for me quite easily.
Again, the City should not spend countless dollars on changing Gabbard…it was here first.
Gabbard Raod was initially an access gravel road to the old Gabbard Ranch. The Bryan City limits runs as a straight line slightly to the southeast of the center line of the paved area. TAMU, the adjacent owner to the southeast, granted an access easement to Brazos County to allow the widening of the road when Westwood Estates was platted in 1976. Initially Westwood Estates was a subdivision in Brazos County. It was annexed by the city of Bryan in 1981 or 82.
The City of Bryan currently owns (and maintains)the road, partly by Dedication and partly as a road Easement.