On Wednesday, February 8, 2023, a citizens petition article entitled “Change Aldrich Street to Aldrich Avenue” was submitted to the Town Manager’s Office for inclusion at the Annual Town Meeting on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.

The purpose of this town warrant article is to rename the officially accepted street name from Aldrich Street to Aldrich Avenue to match the original 1960± Brookvale Project subdivision plans, each of the deeds recorded in the Worcester County Registry of Deeds, and the historical street signs that have been in place since the acceptance of the street for the four (4) existing house lots. There is no undeveloped and buildable land on Aldrich Avenue to create additional lots. This is a simple housekeeping item. Enacting this town warrant article should be as simple as making minor changes in some local and state databases and geographical information systems (GIS), such as the assessors, tax collectors, and town clerk databases that will then in turn filtered up to the MassGIS and NextGen 911 system. No changes are required to Apple Maps or Google Maps, as they already show Aldrich Avenue.

This matter came to light when reviewing the official Millbury Zoning Map, that shows Aldrich Street, rather than Aldrich Avenue, and the petitioner was informed by the Town Clerk that the only way to change the official street name (an official governmental process) was through a town warrant article and acceptance by the majority of voters at a town meeting.