Why must Sunn Fjord’s gate remain locked?
January 13th, 2009 by travis baker
The in basket: Derrell Clark of Bremerton writes to say he lives at Sunn Fjord condominiums, which has a locked gate at Bayview Drive and Sunn Fjord Lane.
“The original plan was to have a gated community with one entrance only from Third Street and Sunn Fjord Lane,” he said. “The gate was … approved by fire department officials and access keys were given to various emergency service agencies.
“Current homeowners have abandoned the plan for a gated community and want to open up the gate permanently. When we opened the gate up last year the fire marshal ordered us to keep it closed except for emergencies,” Darrell said.
The county and condominium management each refer him to the other for an explanation, he said.
“Why does the fire marshal want a locked gate in place of an open road?” he asked, “It doesn’t make sense to me.”
The out basket: David Lynam, Kitsap County’s fire marshal, went to Shawn Shephard of South Kitsap Fire and Rescue’s prevention staff for the answer. “SK is the fire district that does those inspections for us at Sunn Fjord,” David said.
The deal was sealed back when Sunn Fjord was approved by the county hearing examiner, he learned.
“The locked gate was required to mitigate traffic impacts on adjacent neighborhood access,” David said. “It was asked for by the adjacent community (and) the owners agreed to it. To change it requires going back to the hearing examiner.”
He talked with fire officials, he said, and “They are OK with the gate being locked, as the responders know it is locked and have the capability to unlock it if need be. The other access is open all the time so (the gate) is truly a secondary access point for them.”
Tags: Bremerton, South Kitsap Fire
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