Wealthy Miami Beach residents want their public street gated off. Can they do it?

Waterfront houses on North Bay Road in Miami Beach are pictured on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025.

Pedro Portal

David and Victoria Beckham own a house on North Bay Road, a four-mile stretch along Miami Beach’s bayside that boasts some of the most valuable property in the country. Shakira is a resident. Dwyane Wade and Billy Joel once called the street home.

But unlike other swanky neighborhoods in South Florida, North Bay Road is entirely public. It runs parallel to one of the city’s main arteries, Alton Road, and is sometimes used as an alternative by drivers looking to avoid traffic.

Lately, North Bay residents have sounded the alarm about car thefts and burglaries in the area. Some say they need more privacy and protection — including security gates.

It “just makes sense” to gate a neighborhood that contains “the best assets in Miami Beach,” said Matt Barnes, who lives on North Bay Road and runs a luxury chauffeur company.

“Why aren’t we protecting our most valuable assets in the best way that we possibly can?” Barnes said. “It only makes sense to figure out how you can make the best assets as secure as possible and increase the value of those assets as best as possible.”

If gates are added at North Bay Road entry points, the street would still be open to the public, though drivers could be asked to provide identification before they are allowed to pass through.

Miami Beach officials have been discussing the possibility since earlier this year. The process involves creating a special taxation district, in which residents would pay an additional tax to cover security services.

Controversy over gating North Bay Road

But the idea is controversial. Among the opponents are some residents of Alton Road, who say that gating off North Bay Road would worsen the city’s already substantial traffic problems and create headaches for people trying to access their homes.

Adam Kravitz, the president of the Alton Road Homeowners and Residents Association, lives on Alton Road near 29th Street, where the current layout means he has to loop around North Bay Road to get to his house when approaching from the south.

If gates are added, Kravitz said, he may need to drive through two separate checkpoints just to get home.

“This is fundamentally affecting the access for people on Alton Road,” he said. “North Bay Road is a through street, it always was a through street, and that’s it. That’s the geography of Miami Beach.”

One of Kravitz’s neighbors, Pierre Gosselin, lives with his partner on a short stretch of 29th Street that connects Alton Road to North Bay Road. Cars waiting to pass through a gate could end up queuing next to their house, Gosselin said, prompting fears that their property value would suffer.

“That would be terrible for us,” Gosselin said. While North Bay residents may see their property values increase, he said, “that’s too bad, because for us, it’s the reverse.”

Opponents in the Alton Road area also argue that concerns about crime aren’t unique to North Bay Road.

In each of the past few years, there were eight or nine car thefts and 10 or 11 burglaries reported on North Bay Road, according to data that Miami Beach police provided to the Wall Street Journal. Citywide, there are hundreds of reported auto thefts and burglaries each year, a police crime dashboard shows.

A Miami Beach police spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

“It’s not about crime, because statistically crime is no worse there than anywhere else on Miami Beach,” Kravitz said. “They just want to live in a gated community so their property values go up and it creates the perception of safety.”

City officials say the cost for a special tax district, which would be spread among property owners, would likely amount to $200,000 to $300,000 per year for gates, round-the-clock security guards and a roving patrol car.

North Bay Road is divided by waterways into three parts, and residents of each section are considering pursuing their own tax district. The street spans more than 40 blocks from Sunset Harbour in the south to the La Gorce neighborhood in the north.

Getting a plan approved could take two years or more, according to Miami Beach officials. First, it requires a letter of intent submitted to Miami-Dade County and signed by at least 10% of property owners in a given neighborhood. So far, only the middle section of North Bay Road has submitted a letter.

Next, more than 50% of homeowners in the area would need to sign a petition. The Miami Beach City Commission and Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners would need to approve the plan. The county’s transportation department would also have to sign off. Ultimately, the county would conduct a formal election requiring approval by a majority of qualified voters in the neighborhood.

Morgan Fischer, an airline pilot, said he is one of 11 homeowners along the middle portion of North Bay Road, between 43rd and 48th streets, who have submitted a petition for the special tax district. He said the group is currently awaiting information from a traffic study.

Gates would not restrict public access, Fischer said, noting that residents and visitors would still be able to come and go freely. But he said the gates would enhance the overall quality of life for those who live in the area, especially for those like him who have young children who play on the street.

North Bay Road, one of the wealthiest streets in Miami Beach, is pictured from above on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. Pedro Portal [email protected] Commissioners are divided

Miami Beach elected officials have offered mixed opinions.

Commissioner David Suarez has said residents should be empowered to pursue added security measures, including gates, if they want.

“These are residents that have come to me for help, and we’re trying to do something,” Suarez said at a committee meeting in May. “If there is a democratic process for them to vote to have additional security measures, I’m not going to get in the way of that.”

Commissioner Alex Fernandez said at the same meeting that, while he would be open to homeowners paying for private security, he is skeptical about the use of gates in this case.

“That’s a very different type of impact that’s going to have a consequential impact on Alton Road,” Fernandez said.

Several other Miami Beach neighborhoods are gated, including Palm and Hibiscus islands, Star Island, the Sunset Islands, Normandy Shores and Biscayne Point. But all of those communities are separated by water from the city’s main traffic grid.

An overhead view of Alton Road (left) and North Bay Road (right), connected by West 44th Street, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. Pedro Portal [email protected]

This isn’t the first time the city has explored ways to limit access to North Bay Road. Last year, officials discussed the possibility of a pilot program to restrict left turns from Alton Road into the southern section of North Bay Road, from 21st to 27th streets, the part of the road that officials said is most commonly used as a cut-through.

In March, the city administration concluded that the measure would not be effective in reducing cut-through traffic. Officials also noted that discussion of an alternative approach — special taxing districts and the use of gates — was underway to try to address similar concerns.

Even among North Bay Road residents, support for gates isn’t unanimous.

Diane Emery and Warren Ser, a retired couple who have lived on North Bay Road for over 30 years, said they’re not convinced that gates will improve quality of life. Their home is on the “dry” eastern side of the street, which has relatively more modest homes than the bayfront mansions for which the area is known. Fischer and Barnes also live on the street’s dry side.

The street has become increasingly “transient,” Ser said, with homeowners who “live here for a few years, flip, make a lot of money [and] move on.” While gates might help boost property values and reduce traffic on their street, the couple said, the maintenance costs aren’t worth it.

Plus, they said, they don’t believe crime is a serious problem in the neighborhood.

“We don’t see crime,” Emery said, though she noted that some neighbors have had their homes burglarized or cars stolen, often after leaving their engines running with the keys inside.

But Barnes, who has lived on North Bay Road for about a year and recently put his home up for sale after renovating it, said gates are the type of enhancement that could persuade him to stay. Otherwise, he said, “what’s going to make North Bay Road any better than it already is?”

Besides, Barnes said, increased property values will mean more tax revenue for the city — and that should benefit everyone.

“All ships sink together, all ships rise together,” he said.

This story was originally published October 29, 2025 at 4:19 PM.

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