Get-Tough Greeting for Uninvited : Hidden Valley: Residents have installed a $50,000 device that can do major damage to cars that enter without authorization.

When the residents of Hidden Valley say “Keep Out,” they mean business.

In the latest twist on the Southern California trend toward more secure homes, the Santa Clarita housing tract is the first residential community in the world to install a device that inflicts thousands of dollars worth of damage on the cars of motorists who try to force their way through the gate blocking entrance to the tract.

The $50,000 device--primarily used to protect embassies, airport runways and U. S. nuclear facilities--shoots two three-foot-long steel cylinders, each about eight inches across, up into the cars of motorists who defy the system.

Authorized users can get through unscathed by waving a computer-coded card at an electronic sensing device to lower the cylinders into the ground, but they ram upward again to catch any vehicle trying to tailgate the authorized car.

About 28 vehicles have been damaged since the device was installed in April, including a city truck driven by a Santa Clarita public works employee who ignored signs warning of the barricade, according to Hidden Valley residents and Santa Clarita city officials. At least one person has been injured, they said.

The use of the device, known as a hydraulic bollard and manufactured in Valencia by Delta Scientific Corp., has sparked a local controversy and threats of a lawsuit against the Hidden Valley Homeowners Assn. Defenders of the device respond that they are under a county order to block traffic from using their private road, and determined commuters forced their way through less drastic barriers.

About 40 people, including some whose vehicles have been damaged by the device, testified at a public meeting held Thursday by Santa Clarita officials to discuss the issue.

Among them was Margaret Craig-Chang, whose Volvo sustained $4,500 worth of damage when she tailgated a Hidden Valley resident in an attempt to pass through the gate to look at a house for sale in the development. The device allows only one vehicle through at a time.

“To say you’re going to destroy people’s cars to protect the sanctity of a privileged community is practically insane,” Craig-Chang said. “The choice of an anti-terrorist device is dangerous and an outrage.”

Anna Manwaring, another motorist whose Mustang convertible sustained $3,000 worth of damage when the bollard shot through the back seat, was more contrite.

“I realize I was wrong, but I am concerned about the safety of people who may end up being hurt,” Manwaring said. “I hope you will come up with a solution that is not nearly as drastic.”

Jesse Hinojosa of Newhall said he sustained head cuts requiring five stitches after he tried to evade the barrier and the cylinders transfixed the front of his van, hurling him into the windshield.

Mike Murray, product manager for Delta Scientific Corp., said the hydraulic bollard “does what it is supposed to do, and it does it violently,” but it has never injured anyone who was authorized to gain access to an area.

The device, which is capable of lifting a two-ton truck, has been purchased by 123 embassies, San Francisco International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and the owners of some private estates, but this is the first time it has ever been installed in a housing tract, Murray said.

More than 25 Hidden Valley residents defended the barricade at the meeting Thursday, saying it is necessary to prevent motorists from using their privately owned portion of Valley Street as a shortcut to reach the Golden State Freeway. In response to traffic concerns of nearby residents, the county ordered the Hidden Valley homeowners to block access to the road when construction of the 272-unit housing tract was approved in the mid-1980s, said Jo Anne Darcy, a Santa Clarita city councilwoman and field deputy to county Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

Prior to the installation of the hydraulic bollard, motorists routinely vandalized the more traditional gate the homeowners had installed, costing residents more than $20,000 annually to repair, they said. Some determined motorists even used Super Glue to keep the gate open, and others purchased electronic garage door openers and coded them to gain access, the homeowners said.

“We’ve been called elitists and snobs,” said Henry Smith, a Hidden Valley resident. “We’re not elitists or snobs, we’re just trying to maintain something we have to have.”

Ken Pulskamp, Santa Clarita’s assistant city manager, said the city will review the testimony in keeping with its policy to try to mediate disputes between neighbors. But, he added, “to be perfectly honest, we may fail miserably, and not be able to work out any resolution.”

RELATED STORY: A1