Mount Baker Rim 

Security, Surveillance, and Access Control Project Update

​​

​May-24-2025​

​

SUMMARY

​

The work on the gate, camera, and security project is moving forward after weather and supply chain delays.  All of the onsite installation is complete; the camera system and license plate readers are fully operational.   The only remaining item to do is distribute the smartcards to owners.  We should be able to start that distribution the middle of next week (May-26th).

Each registered owner in the MBR Portal will receive an email from the security system (no-reply@acresecurity.cloud) with one mobile credential to install on a smartphone in the next few weeks.  The mobile credentials ensure that someone in your household has access to their properties (e.g., they don’t have their physical cards with them).   Each owner will receive an identical count of owner physical cards that they currently have.  Owners will be able to pick these up at the MBR Office starting next week.  An email with Office Hours will be sent out early next week.

We are aiming for the week of June 16th as the date to switch on the new access control system, but if issues arise (e.g., not enough owners having picked up their cards by that date) this could be pushed out painlessly.

Important Owner Takeaways:

• Onsite work is complete.

• New smartcards will be in MBR’s hands the middle of next week and an email regarding office hours will be sent out following our being in possession of the cards.

• MBR office hours will begin next week for members to pick up their packet of smartcards.

• Members are not required to do anything beyond picking up replacement cards at the MBR Office and installing the mobile credential on their smartphone (more, below). 

• Your existing (legacy) gate cards will continue to work until the final switchover.  We are targeting the activation date for the new security system to be the week of June-16th.  If this date is pushed back, we will send out an email to that fact. 

• There will be numerous reminder emails sent out as we move through the final weeks of this project.

DETAILS

Physical Smart Card Credentials

The date we turn on the new access system will be partially dependent on enough owners picking up their physical cards at the MBR Office.  To this end, we will have the office open and staffed during a staggered mix of times and days, including weekends and evenings, over multiple weeks.  The cards have been created and packaged for each owner to pick up.   A new card reader is installed in the office, and we ask that each of you swipe your cards on the reader before leaving the office, so that we have a record that each card works.  

You do not need to turn in your old legacy cards.  They will no longer work once the new system is activated.  The legacy cards may be thrown out.  

Mobile Credentials

Within a few weeks, before the system switchover, each owner will be emailed a mobile credential along with instructions on how to install the app on your smartphone and how to use the app.  The email from the security system (no-reply@acresecurity.cloud) can be forwarded to someone else in your household to install on their smartphone.  To avoid the email getting snagged by your junk mail filter, please add that email address to your contact list.  Each mobile credential can only be installed once on a single smartphone, although there will be the ability to reassign the mobile credential to a different smartphone in the future.   

The email that you have input into the MBR Member Portal (Field Name = Email or the first email field listed in the record (i.e., not Email#2)), will be the recipient of this email.  If you are unsure of what email you have in the portal, please log on and double check your EMAIL used.  Portal link is here: Mount Baker Rim Members Portal

There are a couple of obvious benefits to the mobile credentials.  First, by distributing one mobile credential to each owner over the internet, we ensure that almost every member will have a working credential to use irrespective of whether they have picked up their physical cards, thus assuring access to your property.  Second, the smartphone-based credentials have a greater range than the physical cards (depending on your phone, they transmit over Bluetooth or NFC), meaning one should not have to open the car window to open the gates.  We are aware of a handful of owners who do not have or use smartphones.  We ask that those owners email the office to let us know (office@mtbakerrim.com).  

After this is all complete, Owners will have the opportunity to switch out physical smartcards for additional mobile credentials.   There will also be the opportunity in the future for owners to purchase additional mobile and physical credentials, subject to our rules on maximum credentials allowed. 

SCHEDULE

• Office hours will start middle of the week of May-26th for members to pick up their physical replacement cards.  An email will be sent early next week with a list of Office Hours.

• Mobile credentials will be emailed to members the first two weeks of June.

• System activation and switchover is targeted for the third week of June, dependent on uptake of new cards by owners.  

• All the onsite work is complete.   We are waiting for the database cleanup and the smartcards to be delivered.   As of Friday afternoon, that work was halfway complete.   

FOR PEOPLE WHO SHORT TERM RENT

MBR currently requires members who rent to register each guest rental with MBR, including cars and license plates, before the rental occurs.  This applies to non-paying guests when an owner is not present.  This is for the security of MBR families and property.   To better align with our existing rules, the board has approved some changes to the process of using credentials for short-term rentals. 

The board has approved moving to and requiring all short-term rentals to use mobile credentials for their guests to enter MBR.  These credentials will be time-based on the registered period of each rental and will stop functioning on the guest’s registered check out date.  The aim is for the completion of a rental registration to trigger the issuance of the access credentials to the short-term renter.   We want to eventually investigate automating this process with the MBR Portal, making it a one stop shop for rental management so that a completed registration will trigger the credential issuance automatically.  This will take a substantial amount of development and test time.  This work needs to be budgeted and done, and we need to figure out how the costs will be covered.

To manage this before the automated process is in place, the board has approved engaging a HOA Property Management Company to manage this process to minimize the turnaround time.   Most of the details for this service have been agreed, but we still have a few items to work out before we move to this new process.   As to not interrupt anyone’s rentals when the new access and security system goes live at MBR and while we work out any open issues, we will provide an alternative credential solution.  This alternate solution could involve open mobile credentials that can be traded by the property managers with their guests (w/o anyone having to process them), open temporary physical smartcards for each rental property, or assigning gate codes to each rental property that can be shared with your guests. 

We commit to doing so in a fashion that protects the property of all our members.  We are also focused on ensuring we don’t hinder anyone’s ability to keep their rental businesses running.   I believe most of you who rent will find not having to distribute and retrieve physical gate cards will make the rental process easier for you and your guests.

IN CLOSING

The new system should vastly improve MBR’s security envelope and will help us enforce our existing rules.  The new camera system is working better than expected: much clearer images and the ability to track license plates in low light conditions.  This increases our ability to identify violators.   The new smartcards are cryptographically impossible to clone.