Sue, we recently sold two office buildings that were required to have Key Boxes for the Fire Department. Luckily, they were never tested as to whether or not they would actually use their key to open the key box or go through the front doors. lol I'll have to ask my DH how far away the remotes work - our smaller ones don't have as far a range, but we have one of the larger ones in a drawer near the front door and can open the gate from inside. I'd say it's about 300ft. I'll double check that when he gets home. Sniffdog, ours is steel and the ticket doesn't show the gauge used, but I remember it was thicker than ones offered online. We were going to have the gate made and install it ourselves, but DH decided just to let the gate guy do it all. The gates were 750 each for 1500 (I think this was just for the materials because the Labor line is too high just for installation). The keypad entry on steel post was 150. The Apollo 1600 Dual Gate opener was 2K. There are also items not priced out on the invoice: Greasable ball hinges, Solar Panel Battery Charger and Gel Cell Battery. Large remote opener 21 each and small 26 each. The option we did not get was Automatic Exit Probe 270. Sweet tea, I don't have good cell reception since we are in a valley so that's not really an option. I don't have cash and jewels stockpiled, so a burglar would be highly disappointed after breaking in our home. Besides, there are 30 houses between the main gate and our house with easier access.

Check first about how you can alter the waterline. You may not be allowed to do anything; if allowed, terracing this area would be beautiful and allow you to have gentle, useful grades. At the very least a set of safe stairs cut into the bank would be great. Keep life saving devices in a bin at the bottom. Under ground fence for the dogs would be great. Please do still teach them what their boundaries are and to be good Doggie citizens. So often where I live dogs with these fences just run the fence line all day, chasing cars, barking, and intimidating pedestrians and bikers. And it wears a deplorable track in the yard. No one wants any of that :-( Your infant is at a convenient age. I would hold off on the security fence in back until I was sure it is necessary (daredevil kid, escapee, utter defiance). Plant a row of low shrubs or a couple of trees a few feet in from the edge, and as you play outside for the next couple of years teach Baby that s/he never goes past the trees or down the stairs without an adult. Remember s/he won't be out unattended for years (unless s/he's an escapee as aforementioned). Anyway that's what I would do, because in general I hate fences and a lake home should feel open and free imo. Just for context, my family has owned a lake cabin for nearly 70 years with a sharp lakeside slope just like yours. Ours is only half as high but the slope is about equal. And our neighbour's property is just as high and steep as yours. In five generations of raising babies at the lake, no one has even stumbled on that hill nevermind rolled to the bottom and in. Most kids just stay away from it from training and also because it's just not fun in summer. In winter it is spectacular to slide down onto the frozen lake though!

Leave a clear space just inside the fence and use vines on the fence to provide privacy in that area immediately inside the gate. I looked for pictures of out gate that opens our gate that opens outward (the north alley gate) to try to show what we did. The 'man door' at the back of the garage opens into the alley just inside the gate too so the clear space provides access to that door as well as space for moving the lawn mower or snow blower etc. in/out of the garage through that door. Some pictures: In early May - you can see the basic space a bit better before everything leafs out...: In July - from outside the gate - with clematises in bloom: Looking from the road when the clematises are in bloom: Maybe something like that could work for you...?

UPDATE: I wanted to thank everyone for their helpful suggestions. Our front yard renovation is almost complete. All we have left to do is pick out some colorful pillows for the chairs and wait for the plants to grow larger over time. We’re really happy with it. This is about the most sun the yard gets so finding native California plants that were shade tolerant and drought tolerant was a challenge. Here’s our plant list: Allumroot in 2 variations; Seaside Daisy; Narrow Leaf Milkweed; Blue Eyed Grass; and, Western Sword Fern The pots and window boxes aren’t natives but contain combos of impaitients, lace ferns, a different variation of allumroot, and daffodils. It’s much more enjoyable to sit outside and watch the kids play now.