Places is gone as it was just the "parent" of Drives and Areas. Please see the Interface and Controls documentation.

Gated communities are typically set up as private road.

To contact a user, send a PM to the username found in the editor. Just enter the name and click Add on the PM form. I'm in contact with DCinSEA fairly regularly as he's in Washington and I'm in Oregon. He should get back to you fairly quickly.