(From a letter sent to LWW residents Jan 2010. This has been formatted for the web, and a few links added at the bottom).
Throughout 2009, the Board worked to gain experienced and professional guidance on significant matters before making decisions, perhaps none greater than security. Although Lake Wildwood statistically experiences less crime than the county as a whole, an increase in non-violent burglaries within our community in 2009 demanded particular attention and counsel.
Furthermore, as our largest expense category, security was also being carefully evaluated by the CEO and General Manager of Lighthouse Property Management, who has managed our property since January of 2009.
Process
As such, in June of 2009, the CEO of Lighthouse with multi-property and multi-state management experience made an impassioned suggestion. He asked to lead a top to bottom review of security with the belief that we could develop a more effective, modern and homeowner-controlled security program ….. all while saving significant money for our community.
The Board then reflected on and later discussed this suggestion as a group. Our General Manager in conjunction with the Board Security Advisor then began to research and interview some of the largest and most respected security firms available to us. Once the list of potential firms was culled, remaining Board members were briefed and joined in a process of significant dialog, extensive research, field study and cost analysis over the course of half a year.
Concurrently, Dr. Craig Anderson led a search along with our General Manager, for new legal counsel to coincide with these security changes. This resulted in LWW securing the largest and most experienced Georgia firm specializing in matters of property management, as our new legal counsel.
Result
The result of this work will yield the most comprehensive upgrade in security for Lake Wildwood in years; all while achieving cost savings both immediately as well as in subsequent years for the community.
The first quarter of the year will see the installation of a modern integrated gate and active resident controlled access system. Included will be a more advanced and scalable CCTV Monitoring system at four full time gates:
- Zebulon Rd,
- Peake Rd,
- Thomaston Rd and
- Table Mountain.
That means that “dues paying residents” will be able to enter and exit at any of the four gates, any time of day or night. All the while the community will continue its policy of maintaining around the clock security officers, including a full-time roving security detail.
“Decals”
The annual changing of passive “dummy” decals that we have used in the past will no longer be necessary. Instead, each resident’s vehicle will be issued an RFID (radio frequency identification) windshield sticker tag.
This technology is in fact the same that the Georgia Department of Transportation recently selected for the state’s toll road system.
The tags must be affixed to the INSIDE of the windshield, on the PASSENGER SIDE. Each tag has a unique serial number and when a valid tag is read by the readers at any of the four gates, access is immediately granted.
The system will consist of the following:
- Automated gates on all lanes
- Transponder Readers at front gate resident lane & three other RFID only gates
- Visitor and Resident Management software (residents will now actively control their own personalized visitor list by phone, web/email, or at the office).
- CCTV Monitoring at each gate location & the Clubhouse
Please complete the information form no later than February 15th to avoid any inconvenience for you or your guests. This form can be returned:
- in person to the office,
- mailed to: 115 Lake Wildwood Dr. Macon GA 31220,
- or emailed to: office@lakewildwood.org
(Webmaster note: See the link to the form at the bottom of this entry)
Visitors
ALL Visitor/Guests must use the Main Gate Visitor Lane.
Each guest/visitor vehicle will be greeted by an officer, who will process the person via the visitor and resident management system. The officer will enter the resident’s name in the system, which will bring up the resident’s authorized guest list. If the visitor is on the list, the officer will proceed as instructed.
Parents will even have the ability to create time frames when their children can or can not have visitors.
All approved visitors will be issued a resident specific and coded pass, which will also include driving directions to your home.
If the visitor/subcontractor is not on the residents authorized list, the officer will process them by either calling the resident for approval or denying them access to the community. Visitors who are not authorized will not be granted access.
Simply put, we have shifted from a visitor initiated program to a more appropriate resident initiated and resident controlled program.
Exit Lanes – This is a free exit lane. The gate will open when the exiting vehicle triggers the open loop. Once the vehicle clears the close loop, the barrier gate will close.
In addition, we continue to work with the Bibb County Sheriff Department to better improve communication and their service to our community. BSO has agreed to support and prosecute within the law, any intentional damage/destruction to these gates or attempt to enter Lake Wildwood property without proper authorization.
With this new system, all rules will be strictly enforced.
Result
We feel most residents will immediately recognize the positive impact these improvements will have for the community.
- Active and personalized control for residents,
- scalable and class leading technology,
- significant cost savings for the community and its residents,
- faster and more efficient entry and exit options for residents,
- and a reduction in overall mileage on LWW roads
are just a few of the first that come to mind. Most importantly is the hope that this will improve security overall and allow us to better focus on future improvements in security for the community.
Meetings
Naturally, even positive improvements create questions and we want to welcome these questions primarily through two orientation receptions at the clubhouse for residents on the following dates:
Thursday, February 11th at 7:00 pm
Saturday, February 27th at 10:00 am
Please attend one of these receptions to meet our vendor partners, Lighthouse management staff, LWW board members, and other community transportation executives to become familiar with these improvements.
We will also have additional information available over the next few weeks in the Wildwords, on the Lake Wildwood website, and on Cox Channel 99.
Please plan to be a part of this exciting change for Lake Wildwood!
Lake Wildwood Board of Directors
Lighthouse Property Management
ABM Security
Want to send a question to the front office?
CLICK HERE to go to the main site, and scroll down to the contact form.
LWW-Gate-Thing-Signup – pdf of the form you need to fill out and take by/send to the office.
