Geocoding

In Colorado cannabis was legalized in November 2012.  The housing development in the image above was built in Longmont way before in 2005.  So there really were no excuses for the crazy decisions made by the addressing authority.  I'm therefore putting this all down to creative expression.

First, observe the street name Bella Vista Dr and see where it runs and how it intersects with Portofino Dr.  Inside the orange box there are 5 houses that face Portofino Dr, their garages are accessible from an alleyway running from Bella Vista to San Marco.  The most accepted addressing standard for this configuration of house i.e. where open space is at the front of the property, is to use the street name aligned with the front. 

In an innovative adjustment to the norm, these addresses are not on Portofino Dr, they are on Bella Vista Dr.  Now I can just about understand this from an emergency services perspective, but how did they decide Bella Vista over San Marco when breaking with tradition?  Afterall, the lowest house number in this 4200 block is nearest San Marco, so the logical hierarchy of choice would have been Portofino then San Marco and the least logical street would be Bella Vista.  Brilliant!!

Now lets get to the interesting numbering.  Generally speaking, numbering in the US is governed by a block structure, where a block is defined as intersecting streets.  Where Bella Vista and San Marco cross, would be the standard location for adopting numbers starting in a different range.  In a show of exceptional creativity, the block-break between the 4300 block and the 4400 block is two houses in from the intersection.

Then if you look closely at the numbering, you will notice the skip in numbers on the top (even side) is 4.  And on the bottom (odd side) is also 4, except where, in a remarkable showcase of innovation it isn't.

Finally, in a stunning display of originality check out the houses in the red box.  The top one is 4002 Portofino Dr. and the bottom one is 4003 San Marco Dr.  How fun to have literal next-door neighbors living on a different street.

There are multiple other imaginative modifications to standard addressing in this development, my favorite is known as a "6-pack".  But I will leave that for another blog.