Allen Way, Westport — Now it’s Lars Way.

After some initial misgivings, the Planning Board last week approved changing the name of Allen Way in Westport to Lars Way.

The request came from Lars Salomonsen, a Tiverton resident who recently improved the laneway to rural (gravel) standards and who plans to build a house there. The short lane meets Main Road from the east a short distance south of Hixbridge Road.

One house sits at the end of the lane now and the owner of that property had no comment on the name change plan.

But when it came time for a motion, board member Robert Daylor said, “Changing the names of ways is something I am uncomfortable with. This is strange. We don’t generally change the names of streets in town.”

“I put a lot of effort, energy and money into creating this road,” Mr. Salomonsen replied.

“I think in general it’s not the best practice to change the names of roads for a lot of reasons,” Town Planner James Hartnett said. Road names appear on deeds, they reference subdivisions and they reflect history — “You lose a little of that.”

But in this instance, he said that David Cole, a member of both the Planning Board (he was absent this night) and Historic Commission, had researched the matter and found no real issues. That research indicated that the lane was near but not on land that was once owned by a town resident named Allen.

The eventual vote was unanimous.