The Town of Miami Lakes is looking into the costs of a straw ballot for more than 800 homeowners on the west side who will consider the installation of license plate recognition cameras at the entrance gate to their communities.
Residents in the Lake Glenn-Ellen, Lake Cynthia and the Anchorage homeowner associations approached Vice Mayor Jeffrey Rodriguez, who put it on the council’s Jan. 11 agenda.
Those three communities and four others are west and south of Veterans Park and Montrose Road and all use the same entrance gate.
The Neighborhood Services District for that section of town has considered installation of the systems, officials said.
Councilwoman Marilyn Ruano said residents in those communities are divided about having them.
Jeremy Bajdaun, director of parks and recreation, said installation of the security system at the guard gate would require an annual fee of $9,000 plus $2,000 permitting fees.
Mobile versions of the systems, known as LPRs, are used in town by Miami-Dade Police.
That agency and Mayor Manny Cid have credited them with deterring crime and recovering stolen vehicles.
There are permanent installations of LPRs -- which scan tags and compare them to a database of stolen vehicles or unwanted persons – at the gated
Royal Oaks community.
Councilman Luis Collazo said some homeowner associations already have non-LPR cameras at their entrances and additional security beyond what’s provided by the Neighborhood Services District.
“This is really the issue of why this issue hasn’t moved forward,” Collazo said.
“We’ve asked that community to give us guidance and they have bumped into their own friction. … because we’re dipping into all of their pockets I think it’s important that we let all of them opine,” he said.
Town staff plans to report the costs and logistics of a straw vote at the Feb. 8 council meeting.