After a number of thefts last spring several residents raised the idea that The Territory should become a gated community to add to the safety of our neighborhood.

Given what seemed to be persistent interest in the idea, we asked HOA-Administrators to do some research into what would be required of us to become a gated community and what the gate construction would cost.

The short answer to becoming a gated community is it is not recommended by local authorities, would be extremely expensive, and would require involvement of the HOA board at a level beyond what any found palatable.

The board was skeptical to begin with, but we all did our best to keep an open mind.

However, after hearing reports on the research the idea no longer has enough support among board members to merit further discussion or research.

We first reached out to Marcae Hilton, City of Bixby Planner on what would be the responsibilities of The Territory if we erected security gates.

She consulted with others at City Hall on the potential of The Territory becoming a gated community and reported the following:

She said the first step to becoming a gated community would require us to ask our attorney and hire an engineer to re-plat the streets and work up a new deed of dedication. That’s because everything inside our fences would become private property and all street and storm sewer maintenance would become the responsibility of the neighborhood.

Hilton said street and storm sewer maintenance costs, “could become very difficult for a small neighborhood to cover.”

Every inch of the property – including storm sewers and curb/gutter – would need to be newly surveyed to legally show precisely where our private property ends and public begins. We did not research the cost of that survey work (we could assume it would not be cheap).

Hilton said all plans, including detailed gate construction plans and how the neighborhood would manage the gates, would have to be submitted to the Planning Commission and then the City Council for approval. She said that gaining Council approval would be a months-long process.

Two strikes would be against us from the start, she said. Both the police and fire chiefs commented specifically against The Territory (but she said they do in general for most neighborhoods) becoming a gated community.

Gates make it more difficult for emergency responders to make random checks and routinely are a problem for police and ambulance response, she said.

“This would not be a favorable change from the City’s perspective,” she said.

Sam Sullivan with HOA-Administrators approached two contractors to provide bids for the job of building a main gate at the 160th Street entrance and a secondary gate off Riverview.

One was a no-show, but Jenks Fence, which builds neighborhood fences all around Tulsa, came through with a bid of $45,520, not including costs for required electrical and telephone hookup to residences. The construction amount would nearly drain all our savings, unless we charged residents a separate construction fee over and above dues to get the job done. The gates would require annual maintenance and we would need to budget for that as well.

The effort required for the months-long process to get the gates approved, the high cost of gate construction, and the recommendation against gating the community from the chiefs of both city public safety departments led The Territory board to dismiss gates as an public safety idea for our neighborhood.

Both city public safety officials said Alert Neighbors programs and regular use of tools like the Nextdoor App to keep residents in touch are more effective at preventing crime than are physical gates.