City of Lincoln poised to issue tickets for fire lane abuse

[October 14, 2015]  LINCOLN - At the Monday, October 5th meeting of the Lincoln City Council, aldermen unanimously passed a new ordinance for law enforcement in the city of Lincoln. The ordinance will allow police officers to issue citations to vehicles illegally parked in fire lanes at local businesses.

The ordinance is only one-half of the equation, though, as area businesses that have fire lanes will need to sign an enforcement agreement with the city police department allowing the police to issue citations on private property.

The topic of fire lanes was brought before the council at the Tuesday, September 29th workshop by Assistant Chief of Police, Matt Vlahovich. In the city, there are a few large businesses with fire lanes marked near their buildings. Those lanes, as one would expect by their labeling, are supposed to be kept clear of vehicles so that firefighters may have quick access to the building in the event of an emergency.

However, one business had come to the police department concerned that the lanes were being used as parking for shoppers. The business wanted the police department to begin issuing citations to those who use the lanes illegally.

Normally, law enforcement does not have jurisdiction in a privately owned parking lot. Vlahovich said that for the city police to issue citations, the business would have to enter into an agreement with the city to have the department police the area. He said the business was willing to do that, but, when the police department began looking for the ordinance that would be cited on the ticket, they found there was none for the city of Lincoln.

When the floor was open for discussion on the matter, aldermen appeared to be in agreement that the ordinance was a good idea for the city.

Jonie Tibbs did mention that there are times when motorists drive into the fire lane because they are picking someone up who is coming out of a store. It could be this is a person who is unable to walk out into the parking lot to get into a vehicle. Vlahovich said that he felt the police officers would use good discretion on when to issue tickets. He said if a car is sitting there for a few moments to help someone coming out of the store that is an exceptional case, which officers should recognize.

During the discussion on the 29th, there was also a request for clarification. Because the parking lots are on private property, the city department may not write tickets at will, at every location. Each business will have to agree in writing that they want the local police to enforce the new ordinance on their property.

On Monday, the ordinance passed by a 6-0 vote without further discussion. Aldermen present for the evening were Acting Mayor Marty Neitzel voting as the Ward 4 Alderman, Michelle Bauer, Jeff Hoinacki, Kathy Horn, Todd Mourning and Steve Parrott. Jonie Tibbs was absent for the evening.

[Nila Smith]