YORBA LINDA : Gated Community Proposal Rejected

The City Council has rejected a proposal to convert streets to private use in an 84-home development as part of a plan to make the neighborhood a gated community.

Council members voted 3 to 0 Tuesday against the plan, saying that it would divide the community and create an atmosphere of exclusivity. Councilmen Henry W. Wedaa and Gene Wisner were absent.

“The gate disallows the rest of our community from being a part of them,” Councilman John M. Gullixson said. “You get down to terms of inclusiveness and exclusiveness.”

Officials of Brighton Homes asked that Kodiak Mountain Drive, Camino de Bryant, Big Horn Mountain Way, Blue Ridge Drive, Merryweather Circle and Daisy Circle be converted from public to private streets. The development is on the east side of Yorba Linda at the end of Camino De Bryant.

Carter Ewing, a representative of Brighton Homes, said the gated community would save the city money because it would not have to pay for street maintenance and landscaping. Streets would be maintained by the community homeowners association.

Company officials say that gated communities are attractive to homeowners because they offer more safety and privacy. Ewing added that many homeowners in the city already have fences or other barriers around their lots.

Even so, council members said that residents of gated communities might be less likely to participate in city activities.

“I have a very, very strong philosophical point of view of a gated community,” Councilman Irwin M. Fried said. “As a councilman, it’s my job to develop a sense of community. . . . Gates do not contribute to that sense of community.”