Addressing
Addressing is a task that presents itself as simple and straightforward but in reality can be multifaceted with implications that are not always clear. The attractive curves and swoops of current development as well as the Next Generation 9-1-1 (NextGen911) standards have combined with explosive growth of the surrounding area to create a challenging addressing environment. The City of Rosenberg has developed this page to aid in addressing requests and facilitate greater understanding of the issues surrounding addressing.
The first course of action is to determine what addressing authority you need to work with to have your address assigned or verified. The City of Rosenberg is the addressing authority within its incorporated limits. The responsibilities of the addressing authority are to assign, verify and keep official records for all addresses and street names within its limits. The GIS Division of the Community Development Department is charged with exercising this authority to provide addressing services for the City of Rosenberg.
Please use this map to find your location of interest and determine if it is within the City of Rosenberg. The search box in the top right of the map window will allow searching by address, street name, and Fort Bend Central Appraisal Districts (FBCAD) property number (begins with R). For the best results use the drop down arrow and select the appropriate layer. The address point layer is set to only show at large scale due to the amount of detail so don't hesitate to zoom in and click around.
Addressing Authority
If your property of interest is within the City of Rosenberg continue to the tabs below but if you find yourself outside of the City you will want to contact one of the two adjacent addressing authorities. The City of Richmond assigns and verifies all of the the addresses within its incorporated limits. The rest of the surrounding area utilizes Fort Bend County Engineering Department for address verification and CenterPoint Maps and Records Department (MapsAndRecords@CenterPointEnergy.com) for new address assignments.
Rosenberg Addressing Information
- Primary Address
- Secondary Address
- Technical and / Or Landmark Address
- Public road
- Named Private Drive
- Zip Code
The primary address consists of the number before the road name and the road name. Any other numbers or descriptors are considered a secondary address. Every developed parcel and inhabitable building will have a primary address. Primary addresses are generally assigned through infill or platting.
Infill
An infill address is going to be a one-off developing parcel that most of the time is coming in between established addresses. These types of addresses are considered on a case-by-case basis and are based heavily on the surrounding addresses. These types of requests will normally receive an assigned address letter with attached map. This letter may be provided to anyone requesting to see the official address.
Plat
Address plats come from large units of land being developed into multiple parcels usually as a residential neighborhood or commercial/industrial business park. It is common for the large developments to be done in sections and therefore addressed in sections. The land plan provides a rough preliminary vision for the entire development and this is used to create an initial addressing plan. The official address plat will not be produced until the city receives a copy of the recorded subdivision section plat.
Please note that an address needs to be assigned by a trained professional due to the numerous standards and rules. Having a poorly assumed address may create unforeseen difficulties for a resident or business owner.
Secondary addresses, also known as sub-addresses, are assigned when a location already has a primary address but needs additional locational information. This usually involves multi-family residential or commercial buildings with multiple businesses. The City of Rosenberg does require that secondary address be assigned by the city. While sub-addresses may seem insignificant they do have standards and rules that need to be followed when assigned.
Secondary address may consist of up to three parts: the building number, floor number, and unit number. The building number is only used when multiple buildings exist but the floor number is always used. The sub-address should ascend in the same direction as the addressing along the street. Fractional addresses are not supported in the current NextGen911 standards.
The city may assign the secondary address as one of the following types: Apartment, Basement, Building, Department, Floor, Front, Hanger, Key, Lobby, Lot, Lower, Office, Penthouse, Pier, Rear, Room, Side, Slip, Space, Stop, Suite, Trailer, Unit, and Upper.
Locations addressed as technical or landmark are uninhabited places and may be given a primary or secondary address. Most of the time a technical address will be issued for utilities while a landmark will be issued to a known location. If it is a known location with an utility meter it is almost always given a straight primary address (parks, water plants, etc.).
Technical addresses are most often assigned to utilities or minor items that need an address for an utility meter. Examples of technical addresses include irrigation water meters, highway streetlights, and neighborhood signs. Technical addresses generally don’t receive the scrutiny that other assigned addresses receive due to not being utilized outside of the utility world. Because these addresses receive less scrutiny it is not a good idea to extrapolate upon them or use them for anything other than their use when assigned. Please contact the city if, for any reason, a technical address needs to be used for anything besides its assigned use.
Landmark addresses are assigned to places that are a known entity with a geographic location. Examples of local landmarks include the Brazos River bridge, railroad crossings, and freeway overpasses. Landmark addresses are not used much by the public but operate more on a behind the scenes level with 9-1-1 and navigation services.
Public roads in the City of Rosenberg consist of highways maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and local roads maintained by the city.
Local Road
Local roads generally originate from annexing existing county roads or from commercial and residential developments. Existing roads that are annexed from the county keep their names and address ranges. Roads that are created through development will have names proposed on the dedication or plat. The proposed road names are checked against existing names for duplication, overuse, and similar sounding names. Once the dedication or plat has been recorded the road will be assigned an address range.
TxDOT Highway
The TxDOT highways have an associated highway number with types that include Interstate (I), United States Highway (US), State Highway (SH), State Spur (SP), Loop (LP), and Farm-to-Market (FM). Most of the highways have a road name but some use the TxDOT highway number for identification.
It is best practice and in the interest of all parties involved to use the road name instead of the highway number when it comes to addressing. To change the name of a road the local City Council would have to approve of it while highway numbers can and do change without much input from the local governments. This means that road names are generally more stable and lasting than highway numbers and less likely to create a need for a change of address.
The NextGen911 standards call for naming a private drive instead of stacking addresses off the main road. This generally occurs in rural residential areas when there is a long skinny lot with multiple dwellings and commercial office parks or warehouses where there are multiple buildings throughout one parcel. The historical way to handle this was to have one address assigned from the main road with sub-addresses that ascended going away from the main road. New standards require that the private drive be named and the buildings assigned an address off of the named private drive.
A street sign is required for a private drive and it is the responsibility of the owner of the private drive to procure and place the sign. The street sign will need to meet the cities design standard.
The City does not issue nor maintain zip codes. Zip codes are purely the responsibility of the United States Postal Service and have no bearing on your primary or secondary address. While many people relate a particular zip code to a particular city this should be avoided. The City of Rosenberg has two zip codes within our jurisdiction: 77471 and 77469. To find out which zip code you should be using please visit the USPS ZIP Code Lookup.
Apply for an Address
The City of Rosenberg utilizes an ESRI application called a GeoForm to collect address requests. The form contains a few information fields and a map. Please fill out the fields to the best of your ability and double check that the Requestor Email is correct. The official address letter will be emailed to the requestor at the email listed. When placing the location marker on the map please zoom in to a scale that allows an accurate placement.
For commercial developments please send a site plan showing the buildings, driveways, and all entrances to the buildings to the GIS Supervisor. Multitenant buildings will need unit numbers assigned by the city.
Developments with new plats will not be issued official addresses until the city receives a copy of the recorded plat.
To apply for an address please follow this link: Address Request Form
Who Receives the Assigned Addresses
- City of Rosenberg Emergency Services
- City of Rosenberg Permitting
- City of Rosenberg Water & Wastewater Utilities
- Fort Bend County
- Fort Bend Central Appraisal District
- Greater Harris County 9-1-1
- CenterPoint Energy
- Lamar Consolidated Independent School District
- United States Postal Service
- Fort Bend Sheriff's Department