Carmel-by-the-Sea adopts street addresses for first time in history
By Jazmon DeJarnette
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CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, California (KSBW) — Carmel-by-the-Sea has officially adopted street addresses for the first time in its history, ending over 100 years of relying on landmarks and intersections to identify locations.
The change became official this morning when the city’s new address, 662 Monte Verde Street, was installed at City Hall.
Residents and businesses are now required to display their new numbers within six months.
“The primary driver for that was public safety,” said Marisa Bermudez, Acting Assistant City Administrator for the City of Carmel, “So instead of calling dispatcher 911 and telling them I live on the third house from such and such corner, this is much easier.”
Property owners have received official notices detailing their new addresses and the requirements for posting them.
“It will say, ‘Dear Property Owner, your new address is, you know, 123 Main Street or 662 Monte Verde Street, Carmel-by-the-Sea, 93921,’” said Emily Garay, Administrative Analyst for the City of Carmel, “And it’ll just have some basic information, the requirements, which is to post your number, minimum four inches in height, half-inch width.”
While the primary reason for the change is safety, the new system also allows packages to be delivered directly to homes and businesses.
However, regular mail will continue to be delivered to the post office.
“That’s why, you know, our slogan for this is ‘new numbers, same traditions,’” said Garay, “So we’ll get numbers, but the tradition to go pick up your mail will continue down at the post office.”
For many residents, the post office remains an important social hub.
“It’s important to have the social interaction here and especially a lot of the retired folks,” said Patrick Kraft, a resident, “I mean, this is important to stay in touch with each other.”
Kairi Meyer, another resident added, “I like being able to come down to mail, do my shopping. I’m going to the farmer’s market today, so I enjoy having an excuse to come out of the house.”
The city used its existing street layout to determine the new addresses.
For example, homes between First and Second Avenue now have addresses starting with a 1.
“That’s kind of how it works, at least going north to south,” the official said. “And then going east to west, we just said, well, why don’t we just make the ocean zero and then every couple of blocks, let’s change the first digit.” said Robert Delves, Councilmember for the City of Carmel.
However, numbering some parts of Carmel proved challenging.
“If you’ve been to downtown Carmel, you know that it’s just full of back alleys and places to wander,” said Delves, “And getting back in there and finding all the front doors and figuring out what number to put on those front doors was a challenge.”
The new addresses are already integrated into Google Maps, and other mapping services are in the process of adding them.
“UPS, FedEx, and DHL have already begun to integrate into their systems as well,” said Garay, “We’ve been communicating with our utility service providers, which is, you know, CALAM, PG&E, GreenWaste. And they’re hard at work integrating the information as well.”
Residents expressed optimism about the change.
“I think it’s going to be fine,” said Meyer, “I think anyone who’s really worried about it is just maybe overreacting a little bit. But it’s going to be fine. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Kraft encouraged others to embrace the change, saying, “You should embrace this idea. It’ll make your life a lot more convenient.”
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