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Enforcement: towing, booting, and beyondLesson 16 of 23

Academy/Parking, Roads & Vehicles

Gates and access control

A gate feels like a board decision. On the roads that matter most, it isn't only the board's decision.

A board can gate a private road, but the local fire code official has final approval over any gate or barricade across a fire apparatus access road, and can require an approved lock and a rapid-entry key box. There is no single national permitting rule for gates or speed bumps; check your local fire marshal and public works department first.

01

The fire code official has the final word

A "fire apparatus access road" is a road a fire code official has determined the fire department needs in order to reach a building. If the road behind your proposed gate qualifies, the gate isn't purely a board call.

"The installation of security gates across a fire apparatus access road shall be approved by the fire code official. Where security gates are installed, they shall have an approved means of emergency operation."

Source: International Fire Code §503.6, International Code Council

The same official can require a rapid-entry key box, often called a Knox Box, mounted at the gate so responders can get in without cutting a chain, and can require an approved lock on any gate placed across the road. Call your local fire marshal before you order the gate, not after it's installed.

02

No state or federal rule sets a uniform permit process

There is no federal regulation governing speed bump or gate installation on private property. State and county requirements vary so much that some jurisdictions require no permit at all, and some associations have installed a device without approval and later been ordered to take it out.

The same patchwork applies to a road's public history. A developer offering a street to the county, called a dedication, does not by itself force the county to maintain it.

"Dedication is the giving of land to public use with the intention that it be accepted and used for such public use... Dedication alone does not burden the municipality with the duty of maintenance unless the municipality accepts the dedication."

Source: Dedication and Acceptance, Alfano Law Office, PLLC

Until the county formally accepts a dedicated road, it usually stays private, and the association keeps day-to-day control over it, subject to whatever the fire code requires under section 1.

03

A road with public history complicates gating

If the municipality actually accepted the dedication, the road is now public, and putting a gate across it is a different problem than gating a private road. Nevada, for example, bars a board from regulating a road accepted by the state or a local government for public use, in a community that is not already gated or otherwise access controlled.

"In a common-interest community which is not gated or enclosed and the access to which is not restricted or controlled by a person or device, the executive board shall not and the governing documents must not provide for the regulation of any road, street, alley or other thoroughfare the right-of-way of which is accepted by the State or a local government for dedication as a road, street, alley or other thoroughfare for public use."

Source: Nevada Revised Statutes §116.350, State of Nevada

That is one state's rule, not a national one. Before proposing a gate on a road with any public history, find out whether your state has a comparable restriction, and confirm with your local government whether the road was ever formally accepted.

Check yourself

Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.

Your board wants to gate the entrance road, which the fire department also uses to reach the rear of the property. Who has final approval over the gate?

A board wants to add a speed bump and looks for the state law that sets the permit requirement. What does the research actually show?

A community's main road was dedicated and accepted by the county decades ago, so it is legally public, but the community is not gated and nothing restricts entry today. Under Nevada's approach to this exact situation, what can the board do?

Sources

Parking, Roads & Vehicles

Not sure whether your entrance road is legally public or private? Start with Who owns the roads?

Whether a gate needs a local permit, which edition of the fire code your jurisdiction has adopted, and whether a road that was once publicly dedicated can still be gated all vary by state, county, and your own governing documents.