Champaign to rename street following confusion

The Champaign City Council voted that a local street name needs to be changed during its meeting Tuesday night.

The street in question, Valleybrook South Drive, was said to be a problem because of a similarly named road, Valley Brook Drive, which are both in Champaign. Both streets also have the same address numbers, which, according to City Manager Steven Carter, has caused confusion for everything from pizza delivery to water companies.

Carter added that the biggest concern would be any safety issues, if, for instance, a fire broke out and the fire department responded to the wrong address.

Not all of the 34 citizens in the area are sold on the idea, though. Resident Pam Grubb spoke of some of the costs the street change would incur on people who live on the street, which includes anything from changing stationary to cast-iron plates put in front of the house.

"I counted the man-hours it would take to change all of this," Grubb said. "It is unimaginable."

Still, Dist. 5 Council member Ken Pirok said the minor costs incurred by the residents may be necessary, if only to ensure safety if an emergency did occur.

"The developer (who named the street) made a pretty clear mistake," Pirok said. "(The residents) will have to be a bit responsible with the change."

Dist. 3 Council member Marci Dodds was blunt, calling the change a "colossal waste of time and money."