Kaua'i, Big Island sentiment runs counter to gated trend

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

Gated communities continue to grow in popularity in Hawai'i, but officials in two counties are pushing to ban new developments that limit public access. The gates, they say, foster exclusivity and create problems with planning, emergency services and traffic flow.

Menehune Bluffs resident Michael Zimmer stands by the gate at the Kaua'i subdivision's entry, which is open days but closed at night. Jan TenBruggencate • The Honolulu Advertiser

However, residents of gated enclaves say the security devices give them a sense of safety and that they really don't see anything wrong about that.

Michael Zimmer, who lives in Menehune Bluffs overlooking Nawiliwili Harbor on Kaua'i, said the high-priced subdivision closes its gates only at night. One goal has been to break youths of the habit of partying on the property, which they did regularly without permission before the subdivision was in place.

"Just because we live in a gated community doesn't mean we lose our ties to the larger community. It's more of a feeling of privacy and security," Zimmer said.

The Kaua'i and Big Island initiatives seek to counter a growing nationwide trend.

"On the Mainland, (gated communities are) really big, particularly in California," said Hawai'i County planning director Chris Yuen. "(Gates are) almost the norm now in some areas."

Yuen said Big Island Mayor Harry Kim doesn't like the concept, and asks developers not to put gates on their projects.

The U.S. Census Service's 2003 American Housing Survey found that 3 million out of 72 million owner-occupied homes in the country were in gated communities.

Maui community activist Buck Joiner said gates are "the antithesis of the spirit of Hawai'i. Gated communities are intensely segregationist."

"I have thought that if they put up a gate that said, 'You're not welcome inside,' I'd put up a sign that said, 'You're not welcome outside,' " Joiner said.

Yuen conceded that despite being urged by Kim not to build them, "most of the big resorts have gated entries."

"As a policy matter, I've agreed with the mayor that it sends an exclusionary message to people that, 'We don't want you here,' and that's the message people get," he said.

Baptiste said he prefers that communities be inclusive rather than exclusive.

But beyond the gates, he wants to see neighborhoods in which moderate and lower-cost homes are in the same subdivisions with luxury homes.

"I see the exclusive subdivisions segregating communities socio-economically," he said. "This needs to be talked about."

His proposed bill, to be sent to the County Council this week, would amend the county's subdivision code to prohibit the construction of gates or other devices designed to prevent access to roads serving five or more homes.

Jacobson, the Big Island councilman who represents Puna, Ka'u and South Kona, said he believes community roads should be interconnected with neighboring communities, rather than functioning as independent systems that all feed onto main public roads.

He said emergency services are slowed when fire trucks, police cars and ambulances must deal with locked gates. He also is concerned that gates often block once-public access routes to hunting and coastal areas.

He said he is still discussing his bill with constituents, but expects to introduce it before the end of the year.

For all the discussion of negatives, gates seem to be popular with buyers — not all of whom fit the stereotype of rich newcomers.

On Maui, the luxury resort areas of Wailea and Kapalua have had gated communities for years, but the Maui Lani master-planned development recently introduced the concept to Central Maui — the island's civic and commercial core — and the new subdivisions have been a hit with local families.

"I think that some people buy just because of that feature. They think that it's safer," said Keone Ball, vice president and broker in charge with Carol Ball & Associates, which is selling Maui Lani properties.

Ball said Maui Lani's first gated subdivision, The Island, sold very well, and properties there seem to get higher prices than comparable ones in its Grand Fairways subdivision, which is not gated.

Ball said he doesn't feel an unstaffed gate operated by keypad will keep people out who want to enter the subdivision, but he agrees that residents may feel as if they are less susceptible to unwanted visits.

"It will keep some people out, but I think it's a misconception that it's safer. I think it may be a false sense of security," Ball said.

Gates do seem to be a selling point, and there's some evidence that more gates may be an even better selling point. The real estate firm Coldwell Banker on its Web site advertises on O'ahu the exclusive Hawai'i Loa Ridge project called The Pointe as a gated community within a gated community.

The cost of staffing a guard shack at subdivision entrances has led many communities to use unmanned gates that require a card or keypad code for entry.

Yuen said that in a few cities, such barriers have been banned because they may get in the way of emergency vehicles.

Some folks distinguish between a simple unmanned gate with a keypad entry and an entry staffed with a uniformed guard. Menehune Bluffs resident Zimmer said he wouldn't support having to get a guard's approval to enter a subdivision.

"I would definitely oppose a manned security gate. That's totally different from what ours is," he said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.