When he heard about the new law, hardware store owner Vincent Ayd wasted no time calling in his order.
If the Baltimore County Council wants to require some residents to display their address on the back of their properties, he is happy to sell the metal and plastic house numbers.
"I'm putting them right at the front," the store owner said at Ayd Hardware in Towson. "I'm going to call them alley numbers."
The legislation passed Tuesday night by the County Council applies to owners of homes and businesses that back up to driveable alleys. The measure, designed to help firefighters and code inspectors more easily identify homes and other buildings, takes effect March 9. County Executive James T. Smith Jr. signed it into law last night.
"It's good common sense," said Don Gerding, a community activist in the Rodgers Forge neighborhood, where more than 700 homes back up to alleys. "Each community has to say, `We have to get our acts together and do this.'"
But the requirement passed by the thinnest of margins, with three of the seven councilmen voting against the measure.
"I just think it's an unnecessary burden on homeowners," said one of them, council President Kevin Kamenetz, a Pikesville-Ruxton Democrat, adding that the legislation was twice defeated before narrowly passing this week.
"It's just another burden for our code inspectors, who are already overburdened with higher priorities," Kamenetz said.
The new requirement doesn't affect property owners whose homes or businesses lack a road or alley providing vehicular access to the rear of their properties.
But thousands of Baltimore County residents and merchants who have such roadways will have to put their address numbers on the backs of their houses and stores or on rear fences. Although the county does not know how many homes and businesses back to alleys, most are in the Catonsville, Towson, Essex and Dundalk areas, said Timothy M. Kotroco, director of the Department of Permits and Development.
"The most important aspect is public safety," said Councilman John Olszewski Sr., a Dundalk Democrat who co-sponsored the legislation. "It could improve response times - even a few minutes could save someone's life."
Although police and fire officials did not request the measure, they welcomed the effort to help identify homes.
In fire emergencies, crews respond to both the front and rear of a home or building, said Elise Armacost, a spokeswoman for the county Fire Department.
