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protection from the commission of the crimes at the first instance. With this goal in <br />mind, the board of directors of Heron Bay, within the last several months, has hired <br />security guards that utilize movable barrier gates to sit at the entrance to the complex <br />from dusk to the early hours of the morning. This tremendous added expense to the <br />Heron Bay budget has not proved effective and, of course, offers no protection to the <br />residents when the guards are not at their posts. The HOA has also retained private <br />security forces to cruise the neighborhood in an effort to discourage criminals from <br />entering the complex. Again, these efforts, while expensive, have not provided a <br />satisfactory solution. Criminals simply wait until security guards finish their drive- <br />through and then enter the unguarded complex to commit crimes of opportunity. <br />The lack of success of these attempts to provide additional security and the growing <br />concern of the residents of Heron Bay for their own personal safety caused the board of <br />directors to retain an expert consultant in land use, zoning and security by the name of <br />Mr. Jeffery Tepper. After a thorough study of the Heron Bay situation, it was concluded <br />that the only effective method that Heron Bay could employ to give the residents added <br />protection would be to install a controlled access gate system. The gate project was put <br />out to bid and the board selected Bay Cities to design the actual system. The project <br />itself represents a very expensive endeavor. The board was also aware that the <br />expenditure of a large sum of money for a capital expenditure that was not in the HOA <br />budget required the vote of the membership (each owner of a home in Heron Bay is an <br />automatic member of the association). As the Honorable Council members are no doubt <br />aware, it is an extremely daunting task for any homeowners association to obtain the <br />approval of the majority of the membership for a major capital expenditure. We would <br />ask the Council members to remember that the HOA is a non-profit corporation whose <br />only source of income is from the assessment of the owners. Notwithstanding the typical <br />difficulty in obtaining an affirmative vote for a special assessment, the members of Heron <br />Bay voted 78% in favor of funding the access gate project. This is an outstanding <br />percentage and clearly demonstrates the desire of the members to move forward with this <br />project. <br />The aforementioned gate project is subject to permit and the permit application is PLN <br />2014-00007. The hearing on that permit application was conducted on June 19, 2014. <br />On the staff recommendation the Planning Commission voted against the granting of the <br />permit and it is on that action that this appeal is taken. The following comments set forth <br />the basis supporting this appeal. They are submitted for the City Council's consideration <br />in support of an approval of the gate project based on the clear need of the homeowners <br />at Heron Bay for added security. <br />Heron Bay would first submit to the Honorable Council members a document dated <br />June 19, 2014 and presented to the Planning Commission and to Tom Liao and <br />Elmer Penaranda by Mr. Tepper, the expert consultant retained by the HOA. This <br />memorandum sets forth the factual and legal reasons for the permit application and <br />outlines the HOA's arguments that were made to the Planning Commission prior to <br />and at the June 19th hearing. A true copy of that memorandum is marked as <br />