CHOCOWINITY — The Town of Chocowinity is asking the community to help fire, EMS and police personnel clearly identify addresses.

The town passed a resolution to enact an ordinance requiring those in the Chocowinity Township and other residences served by Chocowinity fire, EMS and police departments to format their 911 addresses based on new specifications.

The town will send out letters with customers’ water bills at the end of this month to notify residents of the new ordinance. The ordinance requires three-inch letters with a background of a contrasting color to be clearly visible for emergency personnel to identify residences, according to Jimmy Mobley, Chocowinity mayor.

“A lot of homes that are in the city limits and in our ETJ (extraterritorial jurisdiction) that do not have 911 addresses on their houses,” Mobley said. “The fire department, EMS and police department is having a lot of problems locating people’s houses, especially in case of an emergency. If you don’t have the address visible, they have a lot of problems finding you. In case of an emergency, you want them to be able to find you.”

According to Mobley, Mid East Commission will be assisting the town in this effort, as the Mid East heads the town’s zoning and planning. After notices are sent out in customers’ water bills, residents will have a 30-day grace period to comply with the new ordinance, according to Joy McRoy, Chocowinity town clerk. Residents should receive the notice during the first week of August, and after the grace period, Mid East will inspect the town, block by block, and take note of those not in compliance. Following the inspection, letters will again be sent out to those not in compliance, after which residents will have an additional 15-day grace period to comply.

“Once they receive the (second) letter, they have an additional 15 days until penalties go into effect,” McRoy said. “The reason we’re doing that is to help the police department, EMS and fire department because, during an emergency, they don’t have time to ride around trying to find where the emergency is. A lot of times, there is not someone standing one the side of the road, waving and saying, ‘The emergency is here.’”

Chocowinity Police Chief Greg Garris said the new ordinance is for residents’ own protection and will aid emergency personnel in decreasing response times.

“It identifies the residents clearly to cut down on response times in emergency situations,” Garris said. “Basically, we do have an issue here in town with properties not being marked correctly, and that’s basically why this is being enacted and enforced.”