The recent Boulder Monitor article, “Parking an issue in Jefferson City”, brought to light some unfortunate community frustrations. Our highest priority is service to our community, and we would like to address some of the parking issues we have experienced and explain our line of reasoning and actions regarding this issue.
There are numerous reasons why firehalls across Jefferson County and beyond do not allow public parking:
1: Safety. When we respond to incidents (68 in 2021), we are rolling out with large fire trucks, tenders, and brush trucks and our goal is to get to where we are needed. To have kids on the grounds invites potential safety issues.
2: Liability. Our insurance covers fire department related business when it comes to parking, such as training, incidents, those who rent the community center, and community events. Not public parking disassociated with Fire Department business.
3. Many times over the last few years we have had to call Jefferson County Deputies to identify the owner of a vehicle who has parked in front of our bay doors. We have called the school to identify a student’s parents contact info, and tracked down parents of students. We do this because we don’t want anyone to be towed, but it’s been a recurring issue that adds a lot of friction to volunteer firefighters already giving a lot of their personal time to their community. If a vehicle blocking our doors were to influence our ability to respond, it could be tragic.
4. The number of vehicles has overwhelmed our parking lot. It is true that students have been parking at the fire hall for two decades, but Jefferson City being the rapidly growing community it is, what once was a few cars years ago, has at times been over a dozen, filling up the entire lot. We need parking for our responders as well as those who rent the community center. The number of cars is only destined to grow with development in our neck of the woods.
5. We are expanding our fire hall to better serve our community. This spring, we anticipate beginning construction on an addition to our firehall. This will mean closing the parking areas to drive-through activity entirely, and when finished, it will reduce the amount of currently available parking.
So, there are numerous factors that have led to this – some being a function of us trying to mature as a Volunteer Fire Department, and others associated with the growth of our community.
Though there is an impression that we sprung this idea recently, we discussed with the then Superintendent of JHS in May of this year that the fall would see JHS needing to find a different parking location for students. The first week of June this year, we spoke to Mr. Canzona of Harlows, about our issues. We are grateful that T’ings Happen, a great business in our community, is for now allowing parking in the lot adjacent to their building.
We did not make this decision lightly. We have members who parked here when they went to JHS, and we have parents of students as members of our VFD. We understand that this has caused friction for folks, and we could have done a better job of communicating this change to Jefferson City, but this is a necessary change. We ourselves are members of this community, and our neighbors are the reason we volunteer.
Keith Wear
Jefferson City Fire Chief
