JEK
Senior Insider
THE GREAT WORK OF ADDRESSING
by TF26/06/2023
Even after a few years in Saint-Barthélemy, venturing into a less familiar neighborhood in search of an address can be like a most random treasure hunt. Mainly due to the lack of precise reference. Like a sign that mentions the name of the road sought. At the moment, no less than 612 streets, lanes and access roads still have no name. Certainly, they sometimes have an identity of their own and that is known to the inhabitants of the neighborhood. The impasse "so-and-so", the way "to go home", but nothing that allows a person foreign to the place to orient himself effectively. So, to make life easier for visitors but also for factors and especially rescue teams (firefighters, doctors, gendarmes, police officers...), the local authority has begun work in recent months to improve addressing in each sector of the island. A complex, tedious, but necessary operation.
Keep track of the past
If the Community's services work internally to accurately locate the lanes that must be named, they do not intend to impose designations. This is why those responsible for this operation will systematically go to meet the inhabitants, through neighborhood meetings. A premiere took place on Friday, June 2 in Flamands. The opportunity for elected officials and agents to exchange with residents to find the appropriate names. "The idea is to link each address to the history, culture, heritage of the neighborhood, its inhabitants and Saint-Barthélemy," explains Fabrice Querrard, territorial advisor in charge of this file. He specifies: "Our main motivation is to facilitate identification and location for emergency services, mail, census, etc. Addressing is also important in the context of the deployment of optical fiber. An address has a meaning. Words have meaning, so do ways. Moreover, they all have the same point of origin, which is the Hôtel de la Collectivité. A point of origin that determines the direction and numbering of the tracks.
Two processes will be used for track numbering. The first is sequential and consists of numbering the addresses two by two from the beginning of the track, as in Gustavia. The second is metric. It is based on the distance in meters from the beginning of the street to the dwelling. For example, the first house will not be number 1 but may be 17 or 53, depending on the distance. In any case, for the sequential system as for the metric, even numbers will be assigned to the right and the odd numbers to the left. For appointments, the work promises to be more delicate. Especially for the already existing tracks but which do not have a name.
Proposals and counter-proposals
"There is a framework that we will respect," says Fabrice Querrard. We can take the example of the Chemin Marguerite in Toiny. Even if it no longer corresponds to this name, we will keep it. The importance of meetings with the inhabitants of the neighborhoods, who will thus be able, as was the case in Flamands on June 2, to formulate proposals and counter-proposals to those of the Community. A long-term work that will be validated by a vote of elected officials in the territorial council. But it will not be a final step. "Then, we will open the map so that people can make proposals, modifications," says Fabrice Querrard. Because the objective is to keep a trace of the past, of history. It is only after that that there will be a final vote in the territorial council. ”
Some neighborhoods will require more attention than others. Like that of Colombier, where there are many new routes, or that of Saint-Jean. "In general, larger neighborhoods, such as Saline, will be more complicated," confesses Fabrice Querrard, who already glits another important part of this file: mailboxes.
The Community believes that a device for grouping boxes at the junction of a main and secondary lanes would be ideal. There is no doubt that the few La Poste agents still present on the island would not be opposed to this development. In addition, if Fabrice Querrard considers that a "work of standardization" of mailboxes seems essential, he does not exclude leaving it to each neighborhood to choose its own style. As long as originality does not tend towards an extravagance of bad taste.
