Fire code requires road access

Marina

to the LCRA through Jan. 4.

The review will take an undetermined amount of time, said Jim Richardson, manager of water service management for LCRA.

“We’re just following the guidelines of the LCRA,” Shipley said Monday. “This is an opportunity of the public of seeing what we’re intending ... and answer any questions they have.”

One of the biggest concerns raised by nearby residents is the lack of roads leading to the development site.

Keith Powell, president of the Comanche Trail Community Association, said he’s worried about response times for an emergency. The neighborhood association represents about 92 homes in the area.

“We have a whole committee set aside just to manage the fire risk in my neighborhood,” Powell said. “This marina imposes an incredible fire risk to our community. It would be a deal breaker without road access and a firebreak between the marina and the hillside. I wouldn’t take the firebreak alone.”

The marina would be surrounded by private land and the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, so a road would be unlikely.

Austinite Loree Pitts, who has a home across the lake from the proposed marina site, said she also is concerned.

“I don’t want it to be that something happens over that and someone said, ‘No one told me this.’ I want everyone to know about it and everyone signs off on this,” she said.

John Durham, assistant fire chief for Travis County Emergency Services District No. 6 Lake Travis Fire Rescue, said the district adopted a fire code that requires road accessibility for emergency vehicles and equipment.