Bird Key residents guard against criminal activity

In late July, Bird Key Homeowners Association President Bill Lloyd reached out to city officials to inquire about a pressing issue facing his neighborhood.

In an email to City Commissioner Liz Alpert, Lloyd asked about the potential legality of installing a boom gate at the entrance of Bird Key. Already, that entrance has a gatehouse at which a security guard is stationed, but Lloyd states that residents have been wondering if they could do more to control entry to the neighborhood.

“This has arisen as a direct result of criminal activity on the Key, which has recently shown a dramatic increase,” Lloyd wrote.

According to city legal staff, the answer is a simple no — they don’t have the ability to restrict access to the neighborhood’s public roads. For Bird Key residents who hope to boost security on the island, then, a question arises: How do they achieve their goals while complying with the realities of city regulations?

Repeating History

When the city finally responded to Lloyd’s inquiry Tuesday, it was able to draw on an existing reserve of research related to this specific request.

City Attorney Robert Fournier said this type of inquiry from Bird Key residents arises every decade or so. The question last came up in 2009. Both then and now, the city attorney’s office referred back to memos from 1996 answering the same question about a gated entrance to Bird Key.

“The streets within Bird Key are dedicated to the public and maintained by the public ... It would be illegal to install a security gate which would limit access to the public road.”

– Michael Connolly, deputy city attorney

At that time, Deputy City Attorney Michael Connolly cited a 1990 Florida Attorney General’s ruling as he stated a gate would not be allowed at the entrance to the neighborhood.

“Currently, the streets within Bird Key are dedicated to the public and maintained by the public,” Connolly wrote. “As such, it would be illegal to install a security gate which would limit access to the public road.”

In 1996, residents expressed an interest in potentially purchasing the neighborhood streets from the city to get around that restriction. In his memo, Connolly writes that he is doubtful that is a viable course of action, too — which makes the gate a non-starter from the city’s perspective.

Raising Awareness

There is already a good deal of security in place. Because the streets are public, the Sarasota Police Department does patrol Bird Key regularly. In addition, the homeowners association contracts with a private security firm that monitors the vehicles coming and going from the neighborhood and assists visitors and residents. Security cameras are posted at the entry point near John Ringling Boulevard, and about five years ago, residents agreed to pay to have the security patrol on-duty 24/7.

According to SPD crime data, there were a total of five serious crimes on Bird Key between May 1 and July 21. Those incidents fell into three categories: burglary, larceny from vehicle and motor vehicle theft.

Charlene Creel is a member of the Bird Key Homeowners Association who’s lived in the area for the decade. She acknowledges that the neighborhood’s crime rate is typically very low, but said criminal activity occasionally rises — relatively speaking — during the summer months.

Off the top of her head, Creel says she can think of two boat thefts in the past few months in the neighborhood. With many seasonal residents out of down during this time of the year, Creel calls many of the incidents crimes of opportunity.

“Someone leaves the car parked in the driveway, doesn’t lock it and there’s an iPad on the seat,” Creel said. “Or, we have a lot of older homes — someone may leave a window open, and it’s very easy for someone to get into a home that way.”

In search of a way to reduce that sort of crime, Creel said one of the neighborhood’s most effective tools might simply be education. Ensuring that doors are locked, that vehicles are secured, that lawns continue to be mowed even when residents are out of town so potential robbers aren’t tipped off to an easy target — this is one way Bird Key can cut down on some of its criminal activity.

Still, Bird Key residents are likely to continue exploring their options on this front. The homeowners association’s security committee is constantly working with the city and the third-party security firm to brainstorm ways to cut down on crime in the neighborhood, Creel said.

“Some of those may be possible without significant cost,” Creel said. “Some of them may be cost-prohibitive, some of them may be legally prohibited. It never hurts to ask.”