Gated Neighborhoods in Nice Suburbs

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I live in a fairly nice suburb about 30 miles or so from L.A. Homes here range from modest to very nice with a couple of McMansions thrown in. Crime is very low here.</p>

<p>Up until recently we didn’t have any gated “communities” here, so all the neighborhoods were connected. But over the past five years, we have seen several neighborhoods of 10-20 homes apiece pop up in gated developments. Now they’re certainly not eyesores, but it seems so unnecessary to build in that extra barrier becuase the difference between very safe and super-safe has to be a very thin margin. It puts extra distance between the new homeowners and everyone else so it’s off-putting in that sense.</p>

<p>I am certainly not advocating some sort of building ban that would outlaw this type of development. However, I would be interested in hearing from anyone who lives in a gated neighborhood located within a town that was a pretty safe place to begin with as to what you like about the arrangement.</p>

2

<p>I think that is silly .
My brother lived in a gated community that was in the back of beyond in rural Indiana-already quite a high end community to go by education and income, especially when you condsidered housing costs but I think it added to percieved “prestige”.
They had a country club and golf course, it does seem that those amenities can come with the fences, so perhaps the gates keep undesirables off the course?</p>

<p>We have several high end neighborhoods in Seattle, some next to definitely more troubled neighborhoods, but the only gated community off-hand that I can think of, is already in a fairly nice area. ( much larger than 10-20 homes)
We do have friends who live in this community, and they are apologetic, but they lived in an area previous where it was more common.
Now the main feature I can think of is keeping solicitors out.
They certainly increase more in the summer & when I am out working in my yard it is hard to get rid of them.
I particulary have a hard time with the kids hauling tupperware containers of crap around. I don’t want to buy anything, but I feel bad for them at the same time.</p>

3

<p>I live in the most opposite extreme from a gated community as you can get as I live in the country. However, my parents’ homes in South Jersey and Palm Desert, CA are both in gated communities and I just got back from the one in NJ. Frankly, I don’t see it as being all the much more “secure”. The gates and security personel really just keep out unwanted vehicles but if someone wanted to get in by foot, they easily could. At the NJ one, there isn’t a guard there 24/7 but there is a keypad for the gate. The CA always has a guard at the gate who has to let you in. At either place, I figure someone could climb over the walls that surround the “community”. At the NJ one,someone can just walk in where the gates are when there is no guard on duty. I’m not even adding in that my mom tells every workman, cleaning person, etc. her code to let the gate up so they don’t have to bother ringing her to be let in and so who knows how many people know it by now, LOL.</p>

<p>Now, where I live, nobody could see anyone who came up to my house.</p>

4

<p>It actually surprises me that builders are still building gated subdivisions. The currently fashionable development style is “new urbanism” - creating sort of a fake main street, front porch, fake urban thing. (Still better than gated though.)</p>

5

<p>A gated community just developed down the road from me, and it seems that the high-end neighborhoods are going that way or the large planned community.</p>

6

<p>No gated communities anywhere near me, thankfully, because I would hate for someone to tell me that I couldn’t paint my front door a certain color, or that I needed some pass code to get to my own house.</p>

<p>I think the “new urbanism” stage is passe, Weenie. People didn’t really want to be that close to their neighbors anyway, apparently, since the McMansions in the exurbs are all on massive plots of land, where one can safely avoic human interaction behind closed garage doors and in ones own backyard.</p>

7

<p>Dadguy,</p>

<p>I like the reduced traffic that enables us to let our kids wander the neighborhood more freely than we might otherwise be comfortable with. I like that our development has fewer homes than comparable non-gated neighborhoods - I think that makes it easier to meet and get to know our neighbors. Last, I like that the lots are much larger than other subdivisions, although obviously it isn’t necessary to have a gated community to have big lots. By the way, we don’t have any requirements regarding the appearance of our houses other than requiring higher grades of roofing materials and prohibiting parked cars in certain areas.</p>

8

<p>DRJ4,</p>

<p>The one development that really got me to thinking about it has houses and lots which are almost exactly like the ones that are on the immediate outside.</p>

<p>I can see what the appeal of these would be if the area was a little “iffy” but these places would fit right in if they did away with the gate and the wall.</p>

9

<p>Many of the houses around me are fenced and/or gated. In many cases, it’s to keep out the deer!</p>

10

<p>Dadguy,</p>

<p>Having a gate and fence probably makes some people feel more secure. I don’t think having a gate and fence makes our house a lot more secure than the surrounding non-gated neighborhoods but it does cut down on vandalism by teenagers, so it’s safer in that sense. There are more eyes watching the perimeter and gate of our subdivision than in a typical neighborhood. There may also be a snob factor for some people.</p>

11

<p>We don’t have gated communities near us, but we do have a 4-year-old McMansion development less than a mile away. Unlike the ones mentioned above, these are large houses on very small lots, with no more than 12 feet between houses. My neighbor calls them “millionaire’s row houses”, because they all have the same setbacks and are so close that if you are driving down the street, they appear to be attached. Their original selling prices ranged from $1-2M; they would be worth more now.</p>

<p>The deer that used to live on the land that the new development is on now roam our neighborhood. I frequently see deer crossing our lot or walking down our street (and we’re not in the country - the lot sizes range from quarter to half acre).</p>

12

<p>My community banned any new gated developments, and includes as a requirement of any new development in existing ones that they takes the gates down. Gates are an entirely useless and mindless appeal to homebuyer’s egos. In nearby gated communities the crime rate is no different from the non-gated areas. (Granted, this is an affluent suburb with little crime, period.) Gates are an annoyance to visitors and no barrier to ne’er-do-wells. They literally have no actual utility at all, other than to provide mind-numbingly boring minimum wage employment for a few people between “real” jobs.</p>

13

<p>Gated communities aren’t for me, but I have heard that they raise property values, I’m guessing for the perception/reality of more privacy, more security.</p>

14

<p>I wouldn’t mind a gated community so I wouldn’t have a ton of solicitors at my door all the time. We have a sign and they ignore it. We are going to intercom next.</p>

<p>Here in Texas the gated communties are usually the 1 mil properties and up.</p>

15

<p>We have bears in the area, but they’re pretty good climbers so I don’t now if even the gates and walls would stop them.</p>

16

<p>Gated areas tend to cut down on traffic which makes it a bit safer for kids crossing streets and riding bikes so that’s a plus. They can also cut down on some crme since the houses on the outside are easier to hit.</p>

<p>Another downside to many gated communities is that the streets are essentially private streets and aren’t maintained by the city/county. This can get expensive in either the high association dues or in special assessments to maintain them.</p>

17

<p>In my area ( puget sound) there are planned housing commuities ( by those who live in them- not developers)
where there may be a common dining area, so that families can share meal preperation as well as child care. I have heard about this in both rural areas, and close to where we live.
I think this sounds very appealing, and it is a somewhat larger scale of housesharing to aid single moms for instance.</p>

<p>My ex sister inlaw, lives in a planned development, that seems like it is in the middle of nowhere ( industries that had been planned to go in- decided not to), there are homes ( not gated) a couple planned playgrounds and a small shopping mall with bank and a theatre.
It works out well for her and her husband, as it is equidistant from each of their jobs, but the house is larger than I could ever stand to live in, and if you go outside the planned neighborhood you would definitely have to drive.</p>

<p>While some would call planned communities in suburbs “fake”, I can understand their appeal. I grew up in a neighborhood where all the homes had kids, and it was close to decent schools. SInce my kids have never lived within walking distance of their schools, from K-12, I can see where that alone could be a tremendous timesaver.
We didn’t have many sidewalks where I lived, and the newer developments, have sidewalks and playgrounds, although they still have to venture out for a movie or a latte, let alone to go to the doctor or the library.</p>

<p>I have undergone an interesting evolution in my comfort with the city.
I grew up in a fairly protected suburb, and we rarely went to the city , except to visit relatives and to go “downtown”.
IT was thought of as exotic and slightly ( or more so) dangerous.
When I got married and had my first daughter, I still lived in a very protected neighborhood of a fairly affluent “city” ( they still protest that they are a city). BUt when we bought a house, I decided I wanted to live where I could easily move around without a car,so we moved to a semi semiindustrial blue collar neighborhood ( which was what we could afford), but which had its own theatre, hospital, library etc.
NOw ironically it seems to be one of the hottest and least affordable neighborhoods in the Seattle area if not Puget Sound, with our taxes going up to match.
<a href=“http://www.phinneyecovillage.net/otherecovillages[/url]”>http://www.phinneyecovillage.net/otherecovillages&lt;/a&gt;
Anyway I forgot my point
WHen my oldest was looking at 6-12 schools, we looked at a school that was so urban, it was spread out over several blocks. It was on the edge of where I felt it was “safe” and I worried about walking back to my car after the open house.
She ended up going there, and I learned more about the neighborhood.</p>

<p>Her sister, ended up going to a public high school, several blocks away, “deeper” into a admittedly sketchy area, not because of the residents necessarily, but there have been quite a few lockdowns, at her school, because of drivebys. etc
It has gotten worse lately apparently beacuse of some bigtime arrests leaving younger gang members vieing for position.
But I have gotten more pragmatic about it, and while I don’t want to live nextdoor to a meth lab ( would anyone?) I also think she is picking up some street smarts, that her sister didn’t have at her age.</p>

18

<p>When we moved to Florida from the Northeast the houses that I liked were in gated communities. I thought it was ridiculous and elitest, but we liked a house in one so we bought it. I actually like it, alot. Its like a small town with 1000 houses in it. H travels for business regularly and I do feel safer here with the kids at night. Our friends who don’t live in gated communities are often burglarised or their cars are burglarised. (here in town) I feel better about letting the kids ride their bikes around to their friends houses, too. There aren’t a ton of restrictions about house color, etc. and there is variety as far as the looks of the houses. Not crazy about the association dues, but I figure I’d be paying that to a security company if I didn’t pay them so its a wash. (plus when a snake gets in the house I just call the guy at the gate who comes over with his snake stick and gets him out…yahoo…what luxury!)</p>

19

<p>We have an alarm which I rarely use (yoohooo…party at Allmusic’s house)…it seems so sad that people need to live behind a gate to feel safe. I guess I don’t worry as much about the riffraff, although I do see plenty of sketchy folks around here and there. I think my kids have better radar about weirdos as a result. It’s true that I don’t let my young daughter play outside alone for hours where no one can see her, but she does play alone in the driveway, etc. without supervision, even here in a gateless community. I do keep a mother’s watchful eye only, but feel fine about her walking to a neighbor’s, riding her bike, etc. My teenaged son has been in the city, riding subways and buses alone or with friends, for years. I can’t imagine him contained behind a gate.</p>

<p>Just my opinion, of course.</p>

<p>EK, we have some of those communal living situations like you describe, and friends who live in one. They speak very positively about their experiences. It would be a little too much togetherness for me, but it’s conceptually an interesting idea.</p>

20

<p>It’s funny; gated communities seem to embody both a desire to get away from others and a desire to connect with neighbors. I live in a very diverse town and find that when I visit gated communities in this area they feel very dull to me, all identical architecture, etc. However, since I have a neighbor who insists on flying a garish banner with a picture of a golf hole on it (don’t ask) and another who is trying to sell part of her large acreage to a developer, I do appreciate the benefits of a gated community. Personally, having grown up in the suburbs in a time when there were fewer cars and more public transportation, I think many of the pluses of gated communities could be translated into life here in the outside world. Many of us would love to have kids walking places, adults walking to shops, etc., and our towns are not set up that way. I read that the current trend is toward a new urbanism that offers these features. Sounds good to me.</p>