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E-911 Addressing

The Buncombe County Commissioners adopted the e911 Ordinance in 1994. The Ordinance regulates how structures are addressed, and guarantees consistency in addressing for swift response by emergency personnel.

While a large portion of the County was re-addressed immediately after the Ordinance was passed, Buncombe County staff is still required to change addresses to meet 911 standards as addressing inconsistencies are discovered and to accommodate new construction. Address changes though inconvenient ensure prompt and accurate Emergency Response.

The E-911 system uses a computer mapping database that routes emergency responders to the site of an emergency. Addresses are assigned based upon the location of a structure upon a roadway.

County E-911 Addressing staff are responsible for addressing all of Buncombe County excluding properties within the Asheville city limits. To better help Responders find your location during an emergency no road name can be duplicated regardless of the road type. For example Valley Street is an existing named roadway. Buncombe County would not be able to approve Valley Lane as a new road addition.

Road Names

Naming roads & Subdivision Addressing


Buncombe County cannot approve a duplicate road name regardless of the road type.
For example, Valley Ln. cannot be approved as a road name because Valley St. already exists.

Questions / Answers

Addresses may need to be changed for several reasons. Possibilities include that current addresses on your road are incorrect in that they are either non-sequential or that both odd and even numbers are located on the same side of the street, or that there is not enough space for new construction being permitted, as the County uses only whole numbers to address homes, measuring the distances between each home. Also, it may have come to the Department’s attention that there are three or more homes being served by a private drive but addressed as if they are located on the main road.

Only use your new address when calling 911 and when communicating with dispatchers in the case of an emergency. Within the first sixty (60) days of the address change you should notify the people you correspond and do business with of your address change. The servicing Post Office has been informed of the address change. Post Customers should only fill out a change of address form with their Post Office or online if instructed to by USPS. Please note that a change of address does not affect ownership or the legal deed description of your property. The change of address letter you receive also serves as change of address confirmation. This letter serves as proof of address change for Mortgage, Insurance and Utility Companies.

There are three primary reason for receiving a named drive notification. It may have come to the attention of E-911 staff that a common driveway is servicing more than two structures, to eliminate a duplicate road name or range and improve emergency response.
Once notified Buncombe County can send out notices providing you and your neighbors 30 days to agree upon a road name that can be approved. After 30 days a road name will be assigned that the majority of owners have agreed upon. If a majority is not met or no petitions are submitted, Buncombe County will assign a road name.

Locate & Contact

Planning & Development - E-911 Addressing

Contact

Mila White
E911 Addressing
P: (828) 250-4846

Hours of Operation

Monday - Friday
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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