By FAYE WHITBECK
Staff Writer

According to the recently written Littlefork Ordinance No. 98, many residents in the city will soon be obliged to post or replace house numbers; and some hard-to-find city addresses will require the purchase of reflective signs.
For emergency purposes, all owners or occupants of residential, commercial or industrial structures within the city of Littlefork will now be required to display assigned address numbers which conform to the ordinance.
The intent of the ordinance is to have every location in the city rapidly traceable in emergency events where fire or ambulance services are summoned.
The appearance of the numbers posted on structures must comply with the ordinance; and for those cases in which the visibility of the main structure is obscured from the street — or is more than 50 feet from the street — a two-sided prismatic sign must be purchased.
Those structures visible from the street must display assigned address numbers, which are no smaller than four inches high, on the outside of the structure near the front door. The address number must be located on the side of the structure that faces the public road.
The ordinance states that the color of the numbers must also be in strong contrast with the color of the surface to which they are mounted, and that “no self-adhesive number appliques shall be used.”
For about 40 Littlefork structures not visible from a public road, addresses must be displayed on the buildings in the same manner as described above, but a reflective sign must also be mounted on a signpost. Owners of those structures will be notified, according to City Administrator Mike Fairchild.
The signs and posts must be purchased and installed by the city. The cost of the sign, post and installation is undetermined at this point, but will be set by resolution of the Littlefork City Council.
The specified sign is a two-sided aluminum sign, 6 inches high by 18 inches wide, covered with reflective high-intensity prismatic grade sheeting. Mounting must be within 50 feet of the road and 10 feet of an existing driveway. The bottom of the sign must be placed at a height no less than four feet above the ground. The style of the signs, and the regulatory location of them, is in coordination with Koochiching County’s E911 signing system, Fairchild noted.
All occupants of primary structures will be responsible for keeping their address numbers or signs in good condition, clear of snow, dirt, debris or obstruction.
Implementation of the new ordinance will take place over the coming months, according to Fairchild.
“We want this to go as smoothly as possible for people,” he said, and added that the council will be working with property owners to get structures properly addressed. Those who do not appropriately provide signing for their buildings are in violation, according to the ordinance, and could be charged with a misdemeanor.