Geography

The three villages, Bunker Hill, Piney Point, and Hunters Creek, are similar in area and perimeter measurements. The study estimates that the total perimeter of the three city limits is approximately 22 miles and the total area of the three cities is approximately 5.5 square miles. Due to the shared boundaries, the total perimeter of the Virtual Gateway system is less than 22 miles, and requires fewer installation locations. The shared borders can be estimated to have reduced the system cost by roughly 30%.

Installation Locations

The study recommends 25 installation locations are required to achieve complete perimeter security, two of which are located on City of Houston property. The Public Safety Committee and the City of Houston are coordinating with one another regarding the installation of these two intersections - numerically labeled 22 and 23. Without these two installation locations, an additional 7 installation locations would have been required to achieve the Virtual Gate concept.

Furthermore, the use of installation locations outside of Memorial Villages city limits has reduced the number of installation locations from what otherwise may have been as many as 32. This represents a cost savings of approximately $500,000 or more, while also providing additional coverage to surrounding areas.

Cost

Fulfilling the core system functionalities and design elements, the surveillance system is estimated to cost $2,700,000 ($900,000 per city) to construct with reoccurring service and maintenance costs of $300,000 ($100,000 per city) per year. The majority of costs are related to the installation of the infrastructure and the associated labor required. The cost estimates are based on previous similar projects designed by the Engineering Consultant, as well as individual cost estimates received from product manufacturers.

Adjustments to the design could occur during the Detailed Design Phase, but costs are not expected to exceed these estimates. Furthermore these estimates are based on the use of a telecommunications service provider for all data transport.