Local gated community has changing of the guards

WEST BLOOMFIELD — Earlier this year, residents of Maple Place Villas Condominiums in West Bloomfield  presented their request to the West Bloomfield Planning Commission to turn their 24-hour manned-guard entrance gate into a card-reader gate with no guard present.

This was part of the condo community’s  site plan proposal for improvements to the entrance to the complex, as presented before the Planning Commission at a meeting Feb. 11. The commission voted unanimously, 6-0, to approve it. Dima El-Gamal was absent.

The property is located at West Maple Road and Old Ranch. In 1987 it was approved as a 188-unit cluster housing development, according to Wade Burkholder, West Bloomfield’s deputy director of city services.

Burkholder detailed the scope of the work needed to be done, including relocating two existing lights, relocating two existing signs, relocating a gate with a keypad reader, removing two bollards and replacing them with three bollards, and removing some of the pavement, curb, and gutters.

“There is not any large-scale disturbance to any of the existing landscaping,” Burkholder said at the meeting. “Anything that will be disturbed along the curb and gutter will be returned to grass.”

Plants in the median will be replaced. Since there is no irrigation available in that location, suggestions of native plants, such as black-eyed Susans, were made by a commissioner. The petitioners shared that some of their residents are master gardeners and members of the West Bloomfield Beautification Committee and will likely handle those efforts.

The improvements will include a turn-around before reaching the gate.  There will only be “one road in and one road out” of the complex. Some commissioners saw this as a concern.

In response, Maple Place Villas Board Secretary Annette Rozwadowski explained the rationale.

When the subdivision next to the complex was expanded, there was lightweight “farm fencing,” which is now someone’s backyard with more secure fencing, according to Rozwadowksi.

“In case of an emergency, yes, the rear could be opened and people could drive up that hill, but it’s not a gate,” Rozwadowski said at the meeting.

According to Rozwadowski, one road in and out could offer more security.

Michael Patton, the former chief of the West Bloomfield Police Department and a current West Bloomfield Board of Trustees member, inquired as to how the police or other first responders would be able to gain access into the complex, as previously the guard at the gate would just wave them through.

Marie Ruemenapp, who is the chair of the gate committee for Maple Place Villas,  explained the “no knock system,” which is when emergency first responders’ “sirens and horns release the gate,”  she said.

In such cases, according to her, they would be given a code, which would provide access for all of their vehicles. Amazon, the United States Postal Service, and other box delivery trucks could also be given a code that would work for all of their vehicles.

“So it would be automatic access,” Ruemenapp said at the meeting.

She further elaborated on how to gain entrance onto the property.

She explained that residents can generate a code for their visitors that can be used  permanently, on a time-limited basis, or for one-time use. Residents can also send a QR code to their visitors for admittance.  According to Ruemenapp,  there will be a phone directory for guests to call a resident, who can push a button to open the gate. Also, residents can have an RFID reader — Radio Frequency Identification — on their car and gain immediate access.

According to dhs.gov, “Radio Frequency Identification” technology uses radio waves to identify people or objects. There is a device that reads information contained in a wireless device  from a distance, without making physical contact or requiring a line of sight, according to the site.

“I would encourage you, once everything is finalized, (to) be sure to contact police administration and let them know so they can keep up to date,” Patton said at the meeting.

In addition, there will be cameras that take pictures of the cars’ license plates, according to Ruemenapp.

The guard shack has a restroom, running water and air conditioning that will remain. The equipment used for the gate will be housed there.   

Rozwadowski explained the backup system in the event of a power outage.

“We have a 24-hour service call system that we’ll be instituting that will be Wi-Fi based, but it can also be phone-line connected,” Rozwadski said at the meeting. “We actually have phone lines for our service in the guardhouse and at the clubhouse. …We make sure we have something that will override a power outage.”