Resort town operations are a constant balancing act between merchants, owner associations, event planners, rental agencies, maintenance, county officials, etc.
It's very difficult to please every owner, renter, and the general public. As popularity increases we will see more and more gated walkovers.
In the end, it is the easy way out to put up a gate, rather than have to ask people to leave your town or your beach. The problem always seems to stem from a handful of vocal owners who feel their town should be for them only. Although they enjoy dining and shopping within the town they feel that's where "outsiders" should confine themselves.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that big a deal yet, but it probably will be. On the other hand, having a gate on a walkover is a HUGE deal to a lot of people who want to visit a town for a few hours or a day. Ultimately, relatively free access is good for every owner, it's just that the easygoing owners (who are the majority) aren't usually involved in petty politics and squabbling about access.
If merchants are struggling in a town, it might be partially due to exclusionary policies. Now is certainly not the time to be turning people off.