MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. -- Some residents of one gated Martin County neighborhood are angry about losing a lane of access to their homes.
Crane Creek residents, will lose access to the resident’s only lane starting Tuesday. They will have to use the guest lane.
Crane Creek is a community inside Martin Downs.
They worry this is more than an inconvenience. Some are concerned that it is illegal and a safety hazard.
Flashing signs greeted Crane Creek residents Monday warning them that on Tuesday, the bar codes on their cars that allow them through the resident lane will be deactivated.
H.B Warren is a Crane Creek resident and secretary for the neighborhood.
“We want to enjoy our homes. We want to come and go as we please and we don’t want a bully telling us we have to use the guest lanes when we’re residents,” Warren said.
It’s a big legal battle, but to put it simply, there’s conflict over the security contract for Crane Creek and the Martin Downs Property Owner’s Association.
Warren explains, Crane Creek is the only neighborhood in Martin Downs that is not part of the Property Owner’s Association.
Crane Creek was built before Martin Downs, but all neighborhoods use the same main security gate.
“As the original community here, we had rights to come and go as we pleased.”
Warren says Crane Creek paid a security fee to Martin Downs POA and had a security contract.
However, Warren says an attorney for Crane Creek reviewed the contract and found a portion of it was illegal.
Martin Downs POA sold a service to Crane Creek for a roving security guard. MDPOA did not have a license to act as a vendor.
“He said you’re basically going to be giving money to an unlicensed contractor. That’s not something we do,” Warren said.
Because of that, Crane Creek backed out of the contract, refusing to pay any more for security until the contract was legal, Warren said.
That’s what Warren says put their access through the security gate in a limbo.
Without a contract, Warren feels Crane Creek residents should still have full access to the neighborhood through the resident lane.
Legal Representatives for the neighborhood have also looked into the legality of the situation, stating “If the barcode system is terminated for use by Crane Creek members so that they must wait in line to speak with a guard for access to the Crane Creek community, this will be deemed willful obstruction…Crane Creek will take swift action to protect its rights and its members’ rights according to well-established Florida law.”
They continued there should not be a financial obligation for Crane Creek or its members to pay Martin Downs Property Owners Association for security services.
Warren says this change could impact nearly 1,000 drivers. He worries about backing up traffic, or interfering with first responder response times.
“We’ve had instances in the season where traffic backs up out onto Martin Downs Boulevard. That’s without the problem we’re talking about that could happen [Tuesday].”
The president of The Martin Downs Property Association says Crane Creek residents can pay $50 to keep their barcodes activated.
There is also a back gate, but Warren says its not as accommodating to all residents.
“We have people that live on the far side of our community that would be a terrible inconvenience to,” said Warren.