WEST CHESTER TWP. — For the newly gated community of Wetherington, there are haves and have-nots — those who have the special cards to get through, and those who don't.

        Residents enter and exit their golf-and-country-club neighborhood with key cards that open the wrought-iron gates. The cards were issued last week, and the gates at the rear entrance are closed. Starting Friday, the front gate will close from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly.

        The cards initially were for only residents with driver's licenses. But after complaints from some homeowners with children ages 15 and younger, exceptions were made for a few families, said Kevin Plank, president of the Wetherington Homeowners Association.

        “There are very few families at this point that have asked for them (exception cards) and got them,” Mr. Plank said.

        Resident Jerry Carstens recently learned he would receive two exception cards for his 16-year-old daughter and his 71-year-old mother. Neither has a driver's license. He was, however, denied a card for his brother-in-law, who does not live in the subdivision but may be needed to come to the home late at night from time to time to help the family.

        “All we want is access to our house for our family members and people we believe needed unrestricted access,” Mr. Carstens, 51, said. “I look at the card as being a key to my house and personally I believe I ought to be able to give cards to family members that I want to have access to my house at all times.”

        But some homeowners say they don't think teen-agers are responsible enough to possess the cards.

        “We are not getting extra cards,” said Rebecca Sowar, who has four children ages 15, 14, 13 and 10. “I don't think it's right (for teens to have them) because you don't know if they are going to stay in the teen-ager's hands or if they are going to give them to their friends or lose them. Teen-agers are very irresponsible.”

        One issue still unresolved is whether non-Wetherington residents who are members of the country club will be given cards to the back gates.

        “We are discussing it with the board for the country club now and that will continue,” Mr. Plank said. “We are asking them for a number of how many people are interested in doing that. It's a limited number, maybe 10 to 15 people at the most we are estimating.”

        Last Friday evening, the gates shut at the Cincinnati-Dayton Road rear entrance. This Friday, the front gates will close off Tylersville Road nightly in what is the region's first gated subdivision. Visitors at night will be able to enter the subdivision through the front gates off Tylersville Road by using a scroll pad. A homeowner directory will be in the computer system, and visitors will pull up the last name of the person they wish to visit. Homeowners can open the gates from their homes. During the day, workers and delivery services can enter and leave through the front gate.

        Emergency vehicles have a special code for access.

        Neighbors in these homes, which range from $350,000 to $1.2 million, say they are tired of the endless stream of vehicles — as many as 11,000 motorists a day, using their neighborhood as a shortcut between Tylersville and Cincinnati-Dayton roads.

        Some of their neighbors and local workers have grumbled about the affluent keeping them out. And some land-use and development experts criticize gated communities, a growing national trend, as divisive and even anti-democratic.

        But Wetherington residents cite safety concerns for their children.

        “A lot of people think we're getting it because we're a bunch of snobs, but we're not,” said resident Karyn Dobson, who in good weather often walks her two children, ages 11 and 6, to the pool amid heavy traffic. “I've been flipped off at the stop signs so many times. People do the rolling stops and I stand out there at the cars saying, "Just stop!'”

        Township officials do not anticipate any problems once both sets of gates close; no incidents were reported over the weekend.

        “For the first two or three days there will be a small amount of confusion. After that, I think life will go on,” West Chester Township Administrator Dave Gully said. “I honestly think it will be a non-event.”

        Besides, he predicted, the gates won't keep many out for long.

        “The way this town talks, everybody within a week is going to have the code,” Mr. Gully said. “Within a month, those gates will become an ornament, a design feature.”

        E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com

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