Report Calculates Cost of Neighborhood Sentry

A controversial plan to place a sentry station at the entrance to an old, upscale foothill neighborhood would prove costly, according to a city report.

Homeowners on Duarte Mesa would each need to pay $1,439 annually to keep a guard and sentry station operating 24 hours a day, a city engineer’s report released this week said.

The Duarte Mesa Assn., a residents group, wants a guard at a post on Mount Olive Drive to monitor--but not stop--those entering the neighborhood of 91 homes at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. Residents cite a series of burglaries in the remote neighborhood as reason for the guard.

But opponents, lead by Councilman Phil Reyes, see the proposal as elitist and divisive. Whatever the intent of the sentry, critics say, many see it as an effort to keep out minorities from a mostly white neighborhood. Property owners in the near-to-nature tract, where homes costs more than twice Duarte’s median value, would pay for it through a special levy.

Homeowners must now raise $10,000 to cover the cost of a special election. Two-thirds of mesa property owners must approve the idea.