Pool Security

I live in a gated community in Florida with an HOA. We have 5 communities in all in our Community Development. My community is a 55+ community. We have our own Community center, pool and amenities separate from the other 4 communities. The other 4 communities share another community center and pool and amenities. Although our community is gated with no trespassing signs etc.. , members from the other communities are sometimes seen using our pool. We do have a lock system with ID cards given only to our residents for our amenities but yet we still find people from other communities using our amenities, especially the pool. Besides hiring a person to stand at the pool and screen people (too costly), I am asking experienced HOA residents what they do at their community to keep non-community residents from using our amenities. Concern is also for people like myself that have no qualms about approaching trespassers, but as we all know that could become very confrontational. Thank you.

You could contact the other communities and ask them to remind their residents that the 55+ pool is reserved exclusively for those residents. However, that won't eliminate the problem altogether.

You say your community is gated, but how are people getting in? Are they walking through yards of your residents? Do these appear to be complete strangers or are they residents from the other communities (possibly both?) You might want to talk to your residents and find out what they've observed. If you can identify the trespassers as other community residents, you could send them warning letters and work with the other community boards in fining them.

You also say your community has an ID system for your residents, so it may be some of them are letting people in. You will likely need to note when these people come in and if they're following residents in or the residents let them in. If it's the latter, you'll need to send warning letters to those residents and possibly fine them as well.

You may not want a monitor, but you'll probably have no choice but to hire one when the pool is open to check ID. You could try to get the other communities to help with that expense, but you may be on your own. Then again, why not set up resident only hours and perhaps sell limited passes available only to residents in the other communities? The money can help supplement the cost of the monitor and you'll have a way to suspend or revoke the pass for repeat violations. When the pool approaches capacity, it will be limited to residents only even 8f tye visitor has a visitor's pass.

Finally, get a security system with camera surveillance. That could ward off trespassers and/give you a way to identify them for fining.

I assume your 55 plus community is part of s master association and you are in a sub association of the Master, is that correct?
The property manager needs to put on blast to the other sub associations that they are not allowed to use the exclusive
amenities of the 55 plus community. I would recommend that the offenders are fined and or trespassed from the gated community.
Your ultimate end-around will likely be is to hire a pool monitor, and issue laminated passes to the owners of the 55 plus community.
It wouldn't hurt to change the locks to RFID fobs so each fob serial number is assigned to each address in the 55 plus community.

On a side note, you run into issues with non age qualified people using facilities in an age qualified facility. There are age qualified
people that don't want little crumb crunchers disturbing their peaceful enjoyment of their age qualified facility that they pay assessments
to use.

Please re-read what I wrote. I do not have a problem with HOPA.. I have a problem with people that invade HOPA communities
and their amenities that disturb older persons peaceful enjoyment.

One thing the OP omitted or left out, does this master planned community have a separate pool for families?
If so, that is where the families belong.

ALL HOA's are exclusionary by definition. Their amenities aren't public facilities, and they risk liability issues and lawsuits if the board doesn't take steps to keep trespassers out and to enforce the other rules.

Hate HOAs? Don't live in one. They're definitely not for everyone, and nobody's feelings should get hurt if some people think that HOAs won't meet their needs. I for one say "good for them" that they know their own minds, rather than move into an HOA and then try to fight constant battles to have things their own way.

The 55+ designation is a lawful exemption from the Fair Housing Act. The board has a fiduciary duty to comply with all requirements that allow the community to maintain that designation. It's not optional. It's not a question of what's "moral", it's what the law says.

(And I've never heard anyone say that the term "crumb crunchers" is immoral. It's slang. I've heard much worse. Again, not everyone finds young children to be an unmitigated delight, and I say "good for them" that they know their own minds and choose housing that meets their preferences. Some people even hate puppies and won't live in a community that allows pets. Shocking, isn't it?)

In the communities I'm familiar with, if there is a separate 55+ section, then there will be separate amenities that are assessed only to those persons living in that section of the community. For example, people in the 55+ section pay for their amenities, and people living in the non-age-restricted area will pay only for theirs.

If there is only one set of amenities, it seems silly to make one section age-restricted, and possibly poor planning on the part of the developer. At best it will be a source of conflict. At worst the residents of the age-restricted section won't receive the benefits of doing so but will still have the administrative requirements of the designation. I mean, what's the point? The worst option is one that someone posted about in the not-too-distant past: a 55+ section with its own amenities and the rest of the community with another pool that was open to everyone. That's asking for problems.

I have some practical experience with a something a bit like this. A few things:

- it’s quite possible that people in your 55+ community are letting other people in. Our Lifeguards instituted a sign-in procedure to attempt to ensure that only authorized residents were using the pool. Of course, they had to make allowances for guests, etc. And this only worked when the LGs were on duty.

- not really a problem with residents, but we’ve had many issues with people jumping the fence.

- also, our gate was not terribly secure, there were a number of techniques for fooling the gate. Most of these have been fixed - but not all.

- what kind of access system are you using? 26 bit Weigand key fobs are effectively obsolete; around here they can be duplicated at vending machines at hardware stores and supermarkets.

To summarize: a lot of our problems with this kind of thing were due to our own residents.

(We have a lot of problems with homeless people jumping the fence. The police aren’t especially interested in helping with that - so we’re looking at getting a new, taller fence. Oh, and just last week we found out what happens when a trespasser hops the fence intent on using the restroom - only to find the restroom locked. On the bright side, they used a trash can and not the pool.)

Bill