Bonita addresses code for building numbers

It might seem like a small problem, but size is exactly the issue.

Fort Myers resident Gary Flowers doesn't have trouble navigating around Bonita Springs, but to be fair, he's had 30 years of practice. Tourists with fold-out maps in rental cars, however, have a little more trouble finding their way though Bonita because so many buildings are missing addresses or are using numbers too small to be easily read from the road.

"There was a little getting used to what to expect," admitted Kathy Moran, a tourist from Texas. "I have noticed that stores aren't marked real visibly."

The Bonita Springs City Council passed an updated ordinance Wednesday that will help code enforcement officers attack the problem and bring most non-compliant buildings up to code within a year, said Code Enforcement Supervisor Frank Cassidy. He said he didn't know how many buildings in the city were poorly marked, but it's a significant number, he said.

It's a code enforcement movement that Flowers favors. Though he doesn't have much trouble finding where he's going, he's been behind some people who do.

"It'd be a good idea (to address buildings), less accidents," said Flowers, who visits Bonita Springs frequently. "You have most of the people looking and slowing down."

It's that type of rubbernecking that causes accidents and kinks in traffic flow, said Councilman Richard Ferreira, a retired cop from Rhode Island.

"I've seen many, many people putting their brakes on and rubbernecking, looking for a building because they've never been there before," Ferreira said. "When you come from Naples and you've got to go to a doctor's appointment, you don't want to keep stopping. It causes problems."

More than an inconvenience, it's a safety issue. When police or emergency medical services have trouble finding an address, it can add minutes to the response time, said Dena Macomber, Lee County Sheriff's communications division director.

"The problem we have is with so many streets with the same name, the numerical address is the only thing that differentiates," she said. "Having the numbers on the building is great, having them visible is even better. They need to be in a place that you can see them from the road."

The ordinance aligns with the International Property Maintenance Code, which states that address numbers must be at least four inches tall and clearly visible from the road. Many people were under the impression it's enough to have an address on the mailbox, but it has to be on the building, Cassidy said.

Because hurricanes have a habit of shattering glass doors and leaving buildings unmarked for weeks, Ferreira wants addresses off the door and on a wall. The ordinance considers doors an acceptable spot because some architectural designs don't leave any other option, Cassidy said.

Door or building, easily seen addresses should start popping up around the city over the next few months, which could trim response times, said Al Lewis, deputy fire chief with Bonita Springs Fire and Rescue District.

"(Poorly marked buildings) can be a tremendous problem, especially on EMS calls where the address of the call is not completely visible to us," Lewis said. "Our computers and our trucks get us to the general area, but it's like the old Etch-a-Sketch — it shows a line. Addresses will absolutely enhance our delivery of emergency medical services."