10/18/1993 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING 0 HELD OCTOBER 18, 1993 ( #7) #1882 JOHN M. O SULLIVAN /O SULLIVAN S - CONT. O'Sullivan's response, in a letter dated August 10, 1993 to Steve Sullivan, included the statement "I am not aware of any officers parking in our fire lane and my night managers have also confirmed this. We do not have a legal fire lane and only consider the area directly in front of our entrance /exit doors a No Parking area. " O'Sullivan indicated he sent the letter to the Chief because they sit on the board together on a monthly basis, and he assumed that the letter he sent would not be shared with the officers. He stated he felt the officers were getting some "unfair heat". He noted that he also copied the letter to the Orono Police Officers Union representative so they would know O'Sullivan's feelings on the matter. O'Sullivan continued that this lead to an interoffice memo dated August 9 from Officer Larry Tomcheck to Chief Sullivan regarding the research he did as to whether O'Sullivan's had a fire lane. Apparently Tomcheck concluded that there is no code for it or no need for a fire lane. O'Sullivan stated the next event was a meeting in late August on O'Sullivan's property with Fire Marshal Jerry Babb, Officer Tomcheck and O'Sullivan. He noted that Babb stated there was no code mandating a fire lane and it was ludicrous to impose it on O'Sullivan as other stations did not have fire lanes, and Babb told O'Sullivan it would only be enforced if he wanted to have a fire lane. Babb concluded by saying that if the City required O'Sullivan to put up a fire lane, it would have to be enforced with every other business in Orono. O'Sullivan indicated that at that point, he did not think there was any further issue. O'Sullivan continued that later Lyle Oman, Orono Building Official, met with him with the original site plan stating that the fire lane was part of the original resolution and must be enforced. O'Sullivan felt that his customers who had been parking in this area for the past 5 1/2 years would be upset when they were cited for parking in that area. O'Sullivan indicated that on approximately September 25, he had a phone conversation with Jerry Babb regarding the past issues and asked Babb for a written letter confirming the fact that no fire lane was necessary. On October 5, O'Sullivan received a letter from the Mound Fire Chief regarding the designation of a fire lane. There was nothing in the letter that said anything about a City or State code that would require the fire lane. The letter was signed by the Fire Chief and two Fire Marshals, one of them being Jerry Babb. He questioned who had caused these people to change their minds but did not call either one of them. O'Sullivan noted he then talked with some members of the Orono Council as he expected further problems over this issue. On September 24 he filed this application with the City since he didn't know how else to proceed. • 17