A tale of 3 Lynwood Drives: Halifax’s plan to rename duplicated street riles some residents

A municipal plan to rename a Halifax street has prompted discussion among neighbours — and sadness for some who say the street will lose an element of its history.

The city has decided to rename Lynwood Drive in the Rockingham neighbourhood of Halifax. It is one of three Lynwood Drives in the municipality, including one in Dartmouth and one in Brookside.

The duplication is a potential safety issue due to delayed emergency response, according to the municipality, and can also cause confusion among residents and visitors.

The Rockingham location was chosen to be renamed because it has the fewest residents, with 14 addresses, while the Dartmouth location has 23 and the Brookside location has 37, according to figures provided by the city.

But some residents say those numbers shouldn’t be the only factor that’s considered.

Patricia Arab and her ancestors have lived on the street for decades, since her grandfather built his house there in the late 1950s. She says his home, which she now lives in, was like a beacon for early Lebanese immigrants to Halifax, and became a gathering point for the Lebanese community.

“It has been a place of refuge for many in the Lebanese community … and I have a great fear that when you erase the name of this street, you’re erasing the early Lebanese pioneers, our ancestors, and all because of a bureaucratic decision,” Arab said.

The Canadian Lebanon Society of Halifax, as well Wadih Fares, the Honorary Consulate of Lebanon to Nova Scotia, have submitted letters to Halifax regional council in support of preserving the Lynwood Drive name in Rockingham.

Arab has also started an online petition to urge the city to keep the name. It has garnered more than 350 signatures.

“This street and this name is so entrenched in my identity and my family history that to lose it feels like I’d be losing a piece of that,” Arab said. “I feel like it would be a loss. It would be something to grieve.”

The city says the factors that are considered when renaming a street include replacement costs for signage, historical significance and public safety, but the street with the fewest impacted addresses is usually selected.

CBC News spoke with several residents on the Lynwood Drive in Rockingham, some of whom weren’t too perturbed by the potential name change.

Luke Woodhead has lived on the street for about 20 years, and said it would be inconvenient to have to change his address, but it’s also inconvenient that there are three residences in the city with his exact same address.

Woodhead said deliveries are often made to the wrong address, and over the years, he and the other residents with his address have figured out each other’s phone numbers and simply text each other if they receive each other’s mail or packages.

He said the possibility of emergency services being delayed by confusion over the street names is also a concern.

“There is that fear of, if FedEx can’t find our place, well, is the ambulance going to show up here or is it going to go to Dartmouth or Brookside?”

Residents of the Rockingham Lynwood Drive were given the opportunity to suggest new names for their street. The short list includes:

Maskwi Ridge was initially on the short list, but it is no longer an option because it would also be a duplicate.

Some residents who spoke with CBC News said the suggestion of Meow Drive in particular was sparking discussion among the neighbours, and most were not fans of the idea.

Residents of the street can vote on the options, and the winner will be selected and sent to council for approval.

The councillor for the area, Kathryn Morse, said the renaming of Lynwood Drive is part of a broader effort by the municipality to reduce duplication in street names, but it was prioritized due to a concern raised by a resident about mail mix-ups and potential emergency services delays.

Morse said she has heard from constituents who do not want the street renamed, and has referred the question about the heritage connections to the city’s heritage planners.

“This name change recommendation was reviewed by police, fire, first responders, and they all approved it as the safest change to make,” she said. “So I would have to have a really strong rationale to disagree with the staff recommendation.”

Municipal staff will produce a report about the renaming, and council will vote on it. Morse said she expects that to take place in the new year.

The municipality offers residents of renamed streets free Canada Post mail redirection services for 12 months.

All three Lynwood Drives existed before the various communities in the area were amalgamated into the Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996.

Right now, there are 45 names in the HRM that occur three or more times, and 258 that are duplicated once.

There are 3 Lynwood Drives in HRM, and the city says 1 has to go

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