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V. The Proposed Gate at Anchorage. <br />The City Staff, and subsequently the Planning Commission, concluded that putting the <br />proposed gate at the Anchorage Drive entrance (which gate has nothing to do with the <br />public access argument) would cause increased traffic on Anchorage. This argument is <br />specious and without merit. There are no traffic studies prepared by the City and no <br />factual basis for staff's conclusion that traffic would be increased on Anchorage. Even if <br />this were true, and there are no facts to support that conclusion, the fact of the matter is <br />that Anchorage is a private street. If traffic would be increased, this would only affect the <br />residents and guests of residents of Heron Bay. Presumably, the residents who voted to <br />approve the gate project would have considered traffic before casting their votes. <br />Nevertheless, the City has no viable interest in traffic on Anchorage on the private side of <br />the gate. <br />VI. Emergency Response. <br />City Staff and subsequently the Planning Commission decided that emergency response <br />may be affected by the presence of gates. This argument is again without merit. The <br />system was designed to allow fire trucks to pass through either side of the gates. <br />Arguably a fire truck would be the widest emergency vehicle that may have the need for <br />emergency access. The system is also equipped with Knox boxes that allow the fire <br />department or emergency services to open the gate in an emergency. The system was <br />further designed that if the Knox box were activated, both the gates on Anchorage and <br />Bayfront would open and stay open until the end of the emergency. Therefore, any <br />argument regarding emergency access on Anchorage would be without merit. Knox <br />boxes are specifically designed to give emergency access. Any argument that the <br />presence of gates equipped with Knox boxes would prevent timely emergency access is <br />without merit, There was no evidence and no opinion from the Fire Department or Fire <br />Marshall regarding this application. It would seem to the HOA that the City Staff was <br />raising this argument without any factual basis in their continuing effort to deny the <br />gates. The gate company selected to do the work, should it be approved, is very <br />experienced with the requirements for emergency response and has planned for those <br />contingencies. The HOA would also point out again that the City approved Floresta <br />Gardens' gates and that they would have had the same emergency access issues. What is <br />not a problem for Floresta Gardens should not be a problem for Heron Bay. <br />Respectfully submitted, <br />A. Alan Berger, AttoyVy for Heron <br />Bay Homeowners Association <br />