A private street off Sinepuxent Road will be named Autumn Grove Lane following approval by Worcester County Commissioners last week.

A sign signifying the entrance of Autumn Grove off Sinepuxent Lane in Worcester County is pictured. Bethany Hooper / Bayside Gazette

By Bethany Hooper, Associate Editor

A private lane off Sinepuxent Road will be named Autumn Grove Lane following county approval this month.

With little discussion July 2, the Worcester County Commissioners voted to name a private road near Berlin as Autumn Grove Lane. The new moniker came at the suggestion of homeowners in the Autumn Grove Estates community, located off Sinepuxent Road.

“We have received a request to name a private lane that serves four lots on the south side of Sinepuxent Road,” Matthew Laick, deputy director of development review and permitting, wrote in a memo to the commissioners. “All the lot owners, including the existing homeowner have agreed and submitted Autumn Grove Lane as their road name choice.”

According to Worcester County’s code, all lanes that are home to three or more residences must be named. Staff noted that efforts to name the private lane began as early as 2020, when the county received its first building permit application for a lot in the Autumn Grove Estates subdivision. Due to an existing policy at that time, nothing came of it.

“However, in 2023 the Public Safety Article 6-101(e) was amended to include ‘… or 3 or more buildable lots …’” Technical Services Manager Kelly Henry wrote in his memo to the commissioners. “Now the Department is in receipt of the second building permit application.”

Henry noted that all property owners were notified of the naming in June. The owners, in turn, suggested Autumn Grove Lane.

“This name is not in conflict with nor a duplicate of an existing road name in the County, and therefore acceptable,” he wrote.

Staff reported that the county would work to assign addresses in the four-lot subdivision and communicate with the U.S. Postal Service, UPS and FedEx.

While nothing was said this week of the name change at the public meeting, Commissioner Joe Mitrecic said he had fielded one concern from a South Point resident regarding a road that was recently named Heron Lane. He said residents had received a letter, supposedly from the county, that the road would be widened.

“We’re making them move their wells so we can widen the road down there?” he asked.

Public Works Director Dallas Baker said the roads department did not send out any letters.

“It’s private,” he said. “I don’t know why we would be widening it.”