Small group forced to change address to comply with 911 emergencies

GONZALES, La — A group of residents on Colonial Drive in Gonzales will have to undergo an address change to ensure their safety.

Ron Amedee, who has been a resident at the same address for over 20 years, is upset that he will have to go through the hassle of changing all of his documents to include the new address.

According to Ascension Parish Planning and Development, the change will only include numbers, not street names.

“They told me my address had been changed for something to do with 911 emergencies,” Amedee said. “They found out using a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) satellite system that our addresses were not in line with the GIS system that they adopted. I’ve been here at the same address for 27 years. Who is responsible for me having to change all my legal stuff? I mean driver’s license, all my titles, everything that has that address on it, has to be changed.”

Jerome Fournier, the Ascension Parish Director of Planning and Development, said the address change is necessary for the safety of the citizens. He mentioned things like this typically happen when more than one trailer is put on a lot.

“We coordinate with 911, fire department, sheriff’s department, everybody else when we assign numbers,” he said. These things have to be appropriately assigned for emergency purposes. There were some number changes out there that we were not aware of and we corrected those changes for 911 to be able to properly identify the houses.”

Fournier said five or six homes total were affected by the address change.

“Sometimes, that occurs when people are putting more than one trailer on a lot,” Fournier explained. “We’ve got our ordinance that allows multiple units to be placed in one lot provided the lot is big enough to handle it. And in some cases, they will put an extra trailer on the lot. So then, we have to go in and assign a street address to that trailer.”

Fournier said the residents won’t have any fees owed to the parish as a result of the address change. He said he didn’t know if fees would apply to utility or energy companies. The residents would need to look into that.

“Our first order of business here is the safety of the population,” Fournier said. “We want to make sure that if, if 911 gets a call, that they’re definitely going to the right place, and so that’s purpose.”

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