I am having a tough time locating a driveway. There is an existing fire hydrant in the way of where I would ideally place the drive. I can shift things around to some degree, but I seem to have a problem with the local police dept. (not good to have a problem with the cops , my Mother always said)
Local building inspector says the drive can be as close as 3′ (with crash protection-posts- installed) Thats ok with me.
Local assistant Fire Chief says no cars to be parked on driveway within 6′ of hydrant. Thats just barely ok with me , but I am pretty sure I can make it work.
Local traffic cop says says no cars to be parked on driveway within 15′ of hydrant. pretty much won’t work . If this is the case the drive could only be used to get cars in and out of garage and no parking on the driveway itself. parking is very tight at the site and on street overnight parking is not allowed.
I talked to a former volenteer fireman and he thought the 6′ rule was adequate clearance for offstreet parking. I assume the 15′ clearance is the distance that is allowed for ON-SREET parking. It just should not apply to off street parking.
Anybody ever run into this problem before.
I do want to make very clear that I am a stong believer in fire protection, I just think 15′ is an excessive amount of clearance to the side/rear of a clearance.
Comments?
Replies
I never knew there was any restriction behind the hydrant. In downtown, there are buildings (and buildings are exceptionally solid and hard to work around or over) just a few feet behind hydrants and zero-clearance to the side. So it seems an odd constraint to have in the burbs.
Seems like you need to look up the local/state statues to confirm what the rules really are.
Do NOT park in front of a fire hydrant in San Francisco if there is going to be a fire in the area. The firefighters, wishing to make a point, have been known to run the hose THROUGH the car windows. And they don't bother to roll them down first!
Boy I have seen lots of partking lot right on the otherside of fire hydrants.
Instead of asking the local patrol cop you need to check with the police commander in charge of traffic and ask for a specific law or the city road and traffic department.
Without finding out what they have in writting it is very easy to mix up on street/off street in some ones memory.
You could also check into moving the hydrant, but I suspect that would be too expensive.
Check with a lawyer and/or city hall.
I don't believe that the cop has any jurisdiction to enforce parking ordinances on private property.
Before you start crying 'foul' and 'private property', check out the easement defining the right of way in front of your property. Exactly half of my lawn, with a bisecting sidewalk, is actually not mine, but I have to maintain it. All those different numbers from the beat cop to fire chief are negated by the actual ordinances governing the area. The trouble with ordinances is that they have an uncontrollable growth factor and everyone has their finger in the pie.
OK heres an update:
The traffic cop is checking with the Chief of Police and the city attorney. There is a 15' utility easemennt at the front of the lot. There is also a 20' setback (but I don't think that really is pertinant to this discussion). There is also a large ground mount transformer that is 9' from the hydrant.
Hope to hear back from someone in the Police Dept. in the next several days. I will most likely ask that they send me a letter stating there position.
oh and by the way, I did talk to a city engineer about moveing the hydrant. His initial guess was 6000 plus dollars with alot of emphasis on the plus.
The police and fire dep'ts don't get to make up their own rules. And I wouldn't trust them for a legal opinion on the matter, either, since they're unlikely to interpret any ambiguities in your favor. Seek your own legal opinion from a qualified person that's obligated to act in your best interests.
Talk to your councilman, or zoning inspector, or law director, or mayor or all the above. The cops and firemen are nice guys, but as previously stated, they don't make the laws.
John
Tim
There are a couple of other solutions you might consider.
1. Run over it in the middle of the night, blame the local hooligan teenagers and then ask the city engineer who comes out to replace it if he wouldn't mind moving it down the street about 20', or
2. If you're a bit sqeemish about that, simply ask the city if you could pay to have it moved?
BruceM