0304
ORDINANCE
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SOUTHLAKE, TEXAS,
PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF FIRE LANES;
DEFINING FIRE LANES; PROVIDING FOR THE MANOR AND
METHOD OF THE DESIGNATION AND LOCATION OF FIRE
LANES ON PRIVATE PROPERTY; PROVIDING FOR THE
OWNER OF PRIVATE PROPERTY TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR
THE MARKING AND MAINTAINING OF THE FIRE LANE;
PROVIDING FOR THE TYPE AND CHARACTER OF MARKING
OF THE FIRE LANE; PROVIDING A SEVERABLITY CLAUSE;
PROVIDING A PENALTY; AND PROVIDING FOR
PUBLICATION OF THE ORDINANCE CAPTION.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTHLAKE, TEXAS:
Section 1. Definitions
A. Fire Lane - An area designated by the Fire Chief or Fire
Marshall of the City of Southlake located upon private property
which area shall be set aside and marked for the purpose of a
lane of travel within which emergency vehicles may travel
without other vehicular traffic impeding such emergency vehicles
on the private property.
B. Fire Chief - The Fire Chief of the City of Southlake, Texas.
C. Fire Marshall - The Fire Marshall of the City of Southlake,
Texas.
D. Vehicle - means every device in, upon, or by which any
person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a
highway or street, except devices moved by human power or used
exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
Section 2. The Fire Chief or Fire Marshall are hereby
authorized and directed to designate fire lanes on private property,
other than agricultural or residential property, at any time, when in
the judgement of the Fire Chief or Fire Marshall a fire lane is
needed on and across any such private property to permit and allow
safe and adequate access and circulation of Fire Department and other
emergency vehicles and equipment on and across such private property
in order to provide fire protection and other emergency services to
the subject property.
Section 3. The Fire Chief or Fire Marshall shall notify, in
writing, the owner of the private property upon which a fire lane has
been designated and provide a description, either by pictorial plat
or by definition, so as to provide the owner of the subject property
with adequate notice and means to locate the said fire lane upon the
t
said property. Such written notice of the designation and location
of any such fire lane shall be and become effective ten (10) days
after receipt of same by the owner of the subject property.
Section 4. If the designation of a fire lane by the Fire Chief
or Fire Marshall upon a particular tract or parcel of private
property precedes or is simultaneous with construction or development
of the subject property, including new construction, remodeling or
repairing, the owner's compliance with this Ordinance shall be a
condition precedent to the obtaining of a Certificate of Occupancy
for such property.
Section 5. Witnin ten (10) days from and after the receipt of
written notice from the Fire Chief or Fire Marshall designating a
fire lane upon private property, the Owner of such property shall
locate and mark the said fire lane in accordance with the following:
A. The Owner of the subject property shall be responsible for
the initial marking of the fire lane and shall be further responsible
for the continued maintenance of such fire lane markings.
B. Fire Lanes shall be designated and marked by continuous red
lines at least four (4) inches in width on each side of the fire lane
beginning at the street entrance of the fire lane and continuing to
the exit of such fire lane from the property. Fire lanes shall be no
less than 20' in width and may be of larger width if the Fire Chief
or Fire Marshall so designates. The words "No Parking" and "Fire
Lane" shall be painted in white letters alternately every twenty (20)
feet on the red line.
C. The Fire Chief or Fire Marshall may require, when necessary,
that "Fire Lane" and/or "No Parking" signs be erected on buildings,
posts or fences to provide the public with adequate notice of the
fire lane designation, with such signs to be of a size, style, type,
and printed as designated by the Fire Chief or Fire Marshall.
Section 6.
A. It shall be unlawful to park, stand or stop a vehicle
unattended other than a vehicle operated by the Southlake Fire
Department, Police Department or other governmental vehicle needed to
assist in Fire Prevention or other emergency activities in a
designated fire lane.
B. It shall be unlawful for the owner of property to permit or
allow a vehicle, other than an authorized emergency vehicle, to be
left parked, stopped or standing and unattended in a designated fire
lane.
C. The owner of the premises shall have the right to remove an
illegally parked vehicle pursuant to Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann.Art.6701g-
1.
D. The City shall have the right to remove any vehicle
illegally parked in a fire lane and to assess any costs for removal
against the owner of the vehicle.
Section 7. It shall be a violation of this Ordinance for any
owner of private property upon and across which a fire lane has been
designated to refuse or fail to comply with any provision hereof.
Section 8. Severability - If any section, article, paragraph,
sentence, clause, phrase or word in this ordinance, or application
thereto to any person or circumstances is held invalid or
unconstitutional by a Court of competent jurisdiction such holding
shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of the
ordinance; and the City Council hereby declares it would have passed
such remaining portions of the ordinance despite such invalidity,
which remaining portions shall remain in full force and effect.
Section 9. Penalty - Any person violating any of the positions
of this ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon
conviction thereof shall be fined in a sum not to exceed One Thousand
Dollars ($1,000.00) and a separate offense shall be deemed committed
upon each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues
after the notice period provided herein has expired. The Court shall
order removal and abatement of the nuisance.
Section 10. Emergency - The fact that no present ordinances of
the City of Southlake providing for the establishment of fire lanes
exist, creates an urgency and an emergency and in the preservation of
the public health, safety and welfare requires that this ordinance
shall take effect immediately from and after its passage and the
publication of the caption as the law and charter in such cases
provides.
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