WL street turns from Silver to Sterling

By Joanne McDonald
For NewsNow

A sterling solution has been found to alleviate the problem of duplicate street names for 911 emergency responders.

There are two Silver Streets in Smithville and the shorter of the two, which runs between Rock St. and Townline Rd. will be renamed Sterling St. pending bylaw approval.

The recommendation was passed Monday at the Planning/Building/Environmental Committee. Following council approval, the new street name will be implemented once residents of the nine houses located on the stretch have been notified and street signs installed.

A public meeting to discuss possible name changes was held last month. Silver St. was one of many street names being addressed by the Township, in this case to reduce duplicate names so that 911 response would be more effective.

Multiple suggestions referring to historical family names of West Lincoln and long-time residents of Silver St. were considered. Some of the suggested names included Pettigrew, Douglas, Jackson, Haines and Elliott.

One letter from relatively new Smithville residents perplexed by streets with multiple names – namely Townline Road, aka, Niagara Regional Road #14 or Smithville Road – suggested it be changed to Hardplace so they could have the undeniable but comical position of living between ‘a Rock and a Hard Place.’