Fairlawn Police to Cite, Fine Drivers Who Go Through Rosemont Boulevard Gates

Fairlawn City Council is looking to approve legislation that will allow police officers to fine drivers who go around or through the gates at Rosemont Boulevard.

City Law Director Ed Riegler said police Chief Kenneth Walsh wants to add a new section to the traffic code that will allow officers to enforce the gates and, if the judge rules in Fairlawn's favor, the barriers at Rothrock Road.

"It will say that a motorist cannot drive within 25 feet of the barricades," Riegler said. "We can get the code into place now, but we cannot enforce it on Rothrock Road until the judge makes a decision."

Mayor William Roth said people have already tried to drive around the concrete barricades and gates at Rosemont Boulevard.

"People try to drive around the gates, drive through lawns and in between the trees on Rosemont," Roth said. "Rosemont is not part of the (Rothrock) litigation, so we can enforce it there now."

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Roth said the Rosemont gates are installed but are not in use yet. Roth plans to host several training sessions on the use of the gate with area emergency services before making the gates operational.

Someone who drives around the gates could be fined with one of two citations, Riegler said. One is failure to obey traffic laws and the other is driving on unpaved road. The fee is anywhere between $0 to $150. 

"We're going to see how this goes before we spend any money on installing cameras in the area," said Deputy Service Director Ernie Staten. "We haven't had a lot of problems or complaints over there, but we want to give the police department something to enforce."