Richmond Hill, long a haven for triskaidekaphobics who fear the number 13, has made a civic offering to tetraphobics who shudder at the thought of four.

The growing GTA community has a multicultural approach to superstition and has banned the number four in new developments. The town began skipping 13 when giving out addresses so long ago that staff can’t remember the year.

In Cantonese and Mandarin, “four” sounds similar to “death.” Because of the number of requests the town receives for address changes, council decided to skip the number going forward in a five-four vote earlier this month.

Numbers like 14 and 24 are still allowed, and people who live in homes marked with a four can apply for a suffix, like 4B.

“It wasn’t the ideal but it was better than nothing was the consensus,” said Councillor Greg Beros, who spearheaded the motion, which he says has been okayed by emergency services. “They weren’t just saying four, they were saying 4A, 4B, although it still has a bit of a stigma of death.”

Lu Han is glad the number won’t be on new homes, but disappointed he can’t be free from its implications.

He bought lot 29 in a new development last year. When he found out the municipal address was 4 last summer, he called his councillor, made a failed deputation at town council, and spoke with his neighbours about making a unified change to the sequence.

“I have to give this guy credit . . . he got everyone but one,” Beros said. “Over 50 per cent of our population was not born in Canada. People come from varying backgrounds and want to help each other.”

According to the 2011 census, of the 184,000 people who live in Richmond Hill, more than 100,000 emigrated from another country. Almost 28,000 are from Hong Kong or China.

Han, 28, is originally from China, but said he is not really superstitious. It’s just that the number is “something everyone will know,” and considered bad. He’s a new dad — and feels lucky in that respect — but he doesn’t want the number for his family.

He has applied to become 4A, but wishes he could be 2B.

Citizens can’t co-opt their neighbour’s number because the neighbour might one day wish to subdivide their lot, Beros explained.

“If the owner really wants to break the house into pieces I can be 2E, 2F,” Han suggested.

Han plans to sell the house in a few years and believes that most Asian people won’t buy it.

Richmond Hill RE/MAX broker Dennis Chan said he tells clients the number won’t prevent a sale. People who are bothered likely won’t look at the house.

Chan said the superstition is primarily an “Asian thing,” but has spread outside the typical demographic, “because a lot Caucasians they go to Pacific Mall, they have a lot of friends which are Asian.”

“It’s funny, I had young Italian couple and they were worried about the number four on their property. . . . They heard four is no good,” he said. “It’s really not a big deal, but some people know a bit, and all of a sudden it becomes stigmatized.”

In 2010, a Markham couple asked for permission to change their address when they realized the number four could lower a home’s value.

“Agents estimate anywhere between $25,000 and $35,000,” Graham Canning told the Star when he was appealing to the town for a change.

Angela Chan of the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto said some people don’t mind the number, because if you say it in a particular short phrase in Cantonese it means “well balanced.”

Dennis Chan says many people find the number workable if the house is decent.

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“It’s not stigmatized in the same way as if this property was a grow-op,” he said.

Chan said it is not unusual for developers across the GTA leave out the number in condo buildings as a marketing tool. He said it “screws us totally up” because when clients ask how many floors there are, the answer is confusing: While it might be a 30-floor building, there is no four, 13, 14 or 24.

A Richmond Hill spokesperson wasn’t aware of any other Canadian municipalities that have banned the number four. Markham, which has dealt with the issue through individual applications, does not have a ban.

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