By Dean Narciso
The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)
GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio — The well-maintained two-story at 1276 Ashland Ave. lacks a key feature: a house number large enough to read from a distance.
If a new law is adopted in Grandview Heights, homeowner Jessica Walli and plenty of her neighbors could face a $100 fine if they don’t make changes.
In the fall, Grandview Heights City Councilman Steve Von Jasinski found himself frustrated while searching for a home and unable to find a house number. When he eventually found what he was looking for, he noticed that the house number had been painted over to match the home’s exterior.
Von Jasinski said he later checked the city code and found a mishmash of rules about size and placement of house numbers.
Current law, written in 1914, allows number sizes as small as 2 1/2 inches on a “good metallic sign.” Many homes in the city were built in the 1920s and ‘30s and have original numbers that are even smaller or are illegible.
Police and fire officials frequently cite the importance of finding homes during emergencies.
“The 2.5-inch size may have been adequate in 1914, but similar current codes in our area suggest that a larger size is more visible,” Grandview Heights Fire Chief Steve Shaner wrote in an e-mail.
The proposed ordinance would require that numbers be at least 4 inches tall. Other regulations still are being worked out.
City officials say they don’t intend to crack down on residents, however.
“I don’t think the idea of Grandview is to rush out and start punishing people,” said John Kuss, director of building and zoning.
House-numbering rules vary in central Ohio.
Neither Hilliard nor Grove City require numbers to be affixed to buildings.
Both Worthington and Upper Arlington require a minimum number height of 3 inches.
But Worthington Fire Chief Scott Highley said enforcement is not a priority.
“As people remodel and repaint and move, things get lost in the shuffle,” he said. The “1276" inlaid in tile on Jessica Walli’s 1923 home is about 2 inches tall.
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea,” Walli said of the proposed change. “Anything that helps visibility and essentially reduces traffic congestion” would be welcome.
“It’s hard to be stuck behind someone when they don’t know where they’re going.”
Grandview Councilman Steve Gladman wanted to know how many properties already would comply with the proposed change, so he walked from his home on Goodale Boulevard up Grandview Avenue and found many homes with decorative house numbers, numbers on plaques in the yard or mounted on rocks or along curbs covered by snow.
“My concern is that in an existing neighborhood like Grandview, there’s probably a wide variety of lettering types and sizes and locations,” he said. “If you really aren’t going to enforce (the law), there’s not much reason to have the law.”
City staffers will review the law and suggest changes. The council might vote on the proposal next month.
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