President’s Report - Fire Lanes
The Fire Lane striping project will occur in the next few months and there are a few things you need to know. With clarifications from the EDH Fire Department and Fire Code, I can explain to you what will occur. But first, let’s talk about what is already occurring. Even though the communication is better, people still think it is ok to park in the fire lanes. This includes the areas between the fire lane placards painted on the curbs. The Board and PTSS want to be clear on what the code states and what the Fire Department wants. In case you do not know, there is NO PARKING at any time on the side of the road that has Fire Lane placards painted intermittently on the curbs. This means at night, during the day, or on the weekends. There is also no parking at any time in the red curb-painted areas around fire hydrants.
The HOA does not want to have a negative relationship with the fire department. They are out here frequently. They see the violations, and they are asking us to convey to the residents the code and the expectations.
As I stated earlier the fire lane striping project is drawing near. This community took over 10 years to develop. During that time, fire lane restrictions have only gotten more stringent and some roads that were built since have tighter restrictions than those labeled as fire lanes back then. The fire department could make us go back and make those roads NO PARKING as well. The good news is they are not. The fire department has grandfathered us into some older regulations allowing us to maintain those roads as they are. The better news is they have given us some roads back, meaning some that are currently Fire Lane restricted will be removed from the restrictions.
The bad news is they are not happy with the current configuration of having the curb painted intermittently on the Fire Lane side of some roads. They would be fine with the current painting methods if people did not choose to try to take advantage of the paint patterns by parking between the painted placards, but we as a community have not been successful in complying.
So when it comes time to paint, the full length of the curb will be painted, meaning the curb will be painted red from the driveway opening to the driveway opening on the fire lane side of the road in those identified areas.
While painting those curbs we will also have the curbs that have placards painted in front of driveways cleaned off. There will be no paint on the curbs in front of the driveways.
Finally, those areas that have been “Decommissioned” and are no longer fire lanes, but have fire lane placards, will be sandblasted, and having the signage removed as well.
I know there will be those who do not like the changes, and while it will grab your eye for a while, we all know we will adjust and get past this. It is all there to make our community safer for those who live and visit here and allow our first responders to get to the need as quickly as possible.
Chuck King
(Article from March 2023 newsletter)
