Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/260020
she told her colleagues. "We need staff to go out there really fast and figure this one out." County Administrator Tom Harmer told the board the following day that staff had gone out to the site again on the morning of Feb. 12. Along with adding new signs, he said, staff will change the angles of some signs. "They should have everything completed within the next week," he noted. THE BACKGROUND As stipulated by the County Commission in an Oct. 23 vote, parking is supposed to be prohibited on both sides of Avenida de Mayo from its intersection with Canal Road to its intersection with Avenida de Cortez. Then, no-parking zones are to be staggered in 500- foot sections from Avenida de Cortez to Avenida Del Norte. The commission's unanimous vote came after Fire Chief Mike Tobias provided details in an Aug. 28 memo about the National Fire Protection Code's stipulation that roads must have an unobstructed width of not less than 20 feet to allow access by emergency vehi- cles. Given the fact that overflow parking had become a regular occurrence not only on the grass rights of way along Avenida de Mayo but also on the street itself, Tobias noted in the memo, that amount of passage was not always available. Almost a year ago — in March 2013 — Merkle testified to the county's Traffic Advisory Council (TAC) that public parking on the street also was hampering residents' abil- ity to exit driveways safely. Accidents that would have injured pedestrians narrowly had been averted, she and one of her neighbors testified. A split TAC decision on Merkle's request for at least a partial prohibition of parking along the street led to the County Commission hearing the matter in May 2013. At that time, the commission voted 3-2 not to ban parking, but it gave direction for staff to work with Two vehicles are parked facing north on Avenida de Mayo, close to the intersection with Canal Road. Photo by Rachel Hackney Sarasota News Leader February 14, 2014 Page 72