Security Gates Get Planning Commission’s Guarded Approval : Thousand Oaks: The city panel’s vote also requires 24-hour guards to be posted at both entrances to the Mirabella Apartments.

The Thousand Oaks Planning Commission has approved new security gates for Mirabella Apartments, but only if the owner of the massive apartment complex employs round-the-clock guards at each of its two entrances.

The commission voted unanimously Monday night to approve security gates, provided they included guardhouses at each of the 608-unit complex’s entrances on Hillcrest Drive. The commission rejected the 6-foot-high electronically controlled wrought-iron gates and surrounding security fencing sought by the apartment’s owner.

But representatives of Shearson Prometheus Development Co., which owns the apartment complex, were taken aback by the commission’s requirement for full-time security guards. They said they are concerned about the cost of staffing the guardhouses 24 hours a day.

“We’re still evaluating the situation,” said John Guth, an official with Shearson Prometheus. As of Tuesday, Guth said the developer had not decided whether to drop its plans for security gates, go along with the commission’s decision or appeal the decision to the City Council. The developer has 20 days to file an appeal.

Commission Chairman Forrest Frields said he believed that having guardhouses at each entrance would not only be more aesthetically pleasing to the neighborhood, but would also be more effective in deterring crime. He noted that, as proposed, the electronic gates would have been locked only at night.

“It seems to me that the electronic gates would not be effective at all, whereas the guardhouses might be,” he said.

Commissioner Mervyn Kopp added that the design of the proposed electronic gates and security fencing--a combination of 7-foot-high pilasters with 6-foot-high wrought-iron fencing--would have made the apartment complex look like a “medieval fortress.”

The gates as approved by the commission would consist mainly of a crossing arm that would be activated by an attending guard.

Shearson Prometheus had proposed installing the electronic gates and security fencing around its 35-acre complex to help discourage graffiti, vandalism and other crime problems that it initially blamed in large part on the residents of the neighboring Las Casitas condominiums.

But some residents of the 540-unit condominium tract had complained that they were being made scapegoats for problems in the neighborhood, problems that some said Mirabella residents also contributed to.

Guth told the commission Monday night that the management at the apartments had “unfairly castigated Las Casitas” for all of its problems. He acknowledged that some of the problems had been caused by residents of the apartment complex.

“It would be unfair for me to say that 100% of our residents are law-abiding citizens,” he said.

Guth said that the complex has stepped up security measures in recent months. He said Mirabella had improved its tenant screening process and hired two security guards as well as a full-time maintenance man to paint over graffiti.

Guth said Shearson Prometheus believed that the security gates would enhance the measures already taken, noting that it is difficult even for two security guards to patrol the 35-acre complex. The guards patrol only at night.

“Security gates are common in affluent communities throughout California,” Guth said. “They have become an effective deterrent, without detracting from property values or the community.”

But Sgt. Bruce Hansen of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department said that there is no statistical evidence to show that security gates effectively deter crime. He said unmanned gates would also make it more difficult for police to respond in emergencies and would cut down on routine patrols through the complex.

Hansen said having a guard posted at each entrance 24 hours a day would ensure emergency vehicles easy access into the complex.