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SewTexas wrote:this is why I keep telling our community, you DON'T want gates. It wouldn't work for ours anyway, but gates cause nothing but expense and trouble. when you have gates, you own the roads, like was mentioned above, your HOA is the basically the property owner, they can't just come on private property driving around looking for trouble, they have to have a reason, like a 911 call.

Like most generalities, your statement does not always hold true. Ours is a "limited access" gated community in North Dallas - an extremely high density residential area. We have fully staffed gate houses, license plate and vehicle / driver imaging cameras and electronic entry control / record keeping. Ours is a "lock & leave" community and a properly managed limited access community has advantages over an uncontrolled neighborhood - for those folks that desire it. It is not for everyone admittedly and some people should simply just NOT ever live in an HOA, even a well managed one with a Board that exhibits common sense.

How many gates does your community have? Manned or unmanned? Do you have an HOA? Do you pay dues? Are your reserves fully funded? Can you afford to pay for a patrol? Is your community considered "limited access"? Does the HOA have any responsibility for limiting access or to provide "security"?

Here is why I ask. The DPD will patrol our gated community in Dallas IF they have the time, but as we know, Dallas is presently understaffed and matters of life and limb are first priority - so practically speaking we almost never see them on patrol on our private streets. They do respond rapidly if we have an issue, just last week we had a homeless trespasser and DPD responded quickly with a drive through (but the trespasser got away).

If you are having issues, then it may make sense to pay for a private patrol, but where you are I would hope its not necessary