Emerald Hills Homeowners Association
Spring 2020 Newsletter
MESSAGE
FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The
draft of this newsletter has been in development
for several weeks
and was recently modified again as the COVID-19
situation has
evolved. Back in 2019 we had never heard
of the terms social
distancing, flatten the curve, government
directed business closures
and shortages of PPE and ventilators. We
had only read about global
pandemics. The global coronavirus pandemic
is affecting all of our
families, our businesses, our communities,
and our way of life.
Students are home for the rest of the year;
some
college students are attending virtual classes,
other students in the
Commonwealth are doing self-study using workbooks
that teachers have
provided. The duration of these new precautions
is uncertain.
Although
we have been greatly inconvenienced by the
need to maintain social
distancing it has been nice to see so many
people out for walks
enjoying the warm weather, the spring flowers
and hunting for bears
and other stuffed animals in the neighborhood.
For
safety on our roads please walk left facing
traffic. If you need any
special assistance due to the recent events,
you reach many residents
with our community email list located at
the
‘E-mail
(listserv)’
link
on our
‘http://ehhoa.info/
’
Website.
If
you do not feel comfortable sending an E-mail
to everyone on the
mailing list then
let one
of the board members know what you need via
E-mail or phone (see
contact info below).
One
of several duties and responsibilities of
“The Board”
includes managing the assets of the Home
Owner’s Association.
The assets include the common areas and the
monies in the bank.
Last fall after several months of discussion,
the shrubbery at the
entrance signs was replaced. Most of the
discussion pertained to:
not should we but rather how should we remove
and replace the decayed
Juniper shrubs at the main entrance area.
The stone wall repair,
planting of Liriope and placement of decorative
stone cost $5,371.
At the recent Board meetings there has also
been discussion regarding
how best to manage some of the open field
areas since the annual
landscaping costs continue to represent a
large percentage of our
annual expenditures.
Landscaping
In
an attempt to lower the cost of our landscaping
bill, decrease the
maintenance of our common areas, beautify
our neighborhood and to
have a positive impact on our environment,
there are plans to hold a
Community Flower Day on Saturday, May 16th from 10am to
1pm. The purpose of this initiative is to
plant wildflowers and bulbs
in the first common area located off of Wyndham
Hill Drive along the
outside fence line. If you have extra
flower seeds, bulbs, or
extra perennial pants bring them along with
tilling equipment, other
garden tools, refreshments and all the help
we can get. Be on
the look-out for more information regarding
the event on the Facebook
Page and sent out through e-mail. This
will be a fun event
getting to know our neighbors and beautifying
our community.
Hopefully the COVID-19 social distancing
will be behind us by then or
we will adapt the plan.
Facebook
Facebook
page traffic has increased over 80%. There
are over 137 likes; we
are gaining new followers every month.
It is a very helpful
place to post information about what is going
on in our neighborhood
such as lost pets, fundraisers, trading or
selling items, etc.
You
can follow us on Facebook by going to the
‘find
us on facebook’
link
on our
‘http://ehhoa.info/
’ Website.
Please
continue to send e-mail address updates to vp@ehhoa.info if
you would like to receive E-mail messages
from the neighborhood or
the BoD.
Semi-annual
property inspections
APMS
and a representative from the Architectural
Review Committee will be
conducting the semi-annual neighborhood inspections
later this
spring. The date will be decided once the
COVID-19 restrictions
have been modified. The most prevalent
deficiency continues to
be the growth of green algae on siding.
The ongoing scarce
availability of maintenance contractors is
recognized. Worth
mentioning is that there are several do-it-your
self siding wash
products available for tank sprayers and
sprayers that can be connected to a garden
hose.
Neighborhood
Yard Sale
The
neighborhood yard sale has been scheduled
for Saturday September 12,
2020.
Goals for 2020 that were discussed at the
March BoD meeting. Some of the goals included
a) Solicit competitive bids for the landscaping
contract.
b) Achieve
100% participation for adding or replacing
faded house
and mail box numbers. Discussion
with local EMS crews indicates that having
legible numbers on houses
and/or mailboxes saves precious moments
when responding to
emergency calls. Please
take a moment to look at your house number.
c) Finalize
the format for the HoA by-laws. Assistance
has been requested from
APMS to incorporate last year’s amendment
to the bylaws into
an easier to read document.
d) Obtain
remaining e-mail addresses for those who
have not provided updated
contract info to the BoD or to APMS.
e) Maintain
neighborhood home values by encouraging
residents to preserve the
appearance of their property.
f) Keep
the annual HoA fee at $65.00/year.
Neighborhood
reminders
Property Improvement Requests
According
to our covenants, owners are required to
obtain approval from the
Architecture Review Committee (ARC) before
starting any new building,
performing exterior modifications to existing
structures, or altering
your property. This includes new construction,
exterior painting
which changes the color scheme, structural
additions, fences, walls,
sheds, pools, etc. Please contact a member
of the Board or the ARC,
or visit our "http://ehhoa.info/
" website to obtain a “Property
Improvement Request Form”.
Please note that Modification Forms should
be sent to "EHHOA
ARC, PO Box 1024, Fishersville, VA 22939".
Send
these forms to the ARC rather than to APMS.
Neighborhood
Watch
The
Neighborhood Watch program has been ongoing
since last spring. Two
“Neighborhood Watch” signs have
been posted at both of
the main entrance roads. Sergeant Wills
from the County Sheriff’s
Office attended the annual HoA meeting in
September. He spoke about
continued random patrols in the neighborhood
as staffing resources
are available.
Do
not hesitate to call the Sheriff’s
Department at 540-245-5333
with issues dealing with speeding traffic,
ATVs, mini-off road bikes
illegal fireworks and other illegal behavior.
Always call 911 in case of an emergency
Meeting
dates for 2020 (all meetings are open to
Emerald Hills Owners):
Sunday
June 7 Quarterly BoD meeting
Sunday
September 13 Quarterly BoD meeting
Monday September 14 Annual HoA meeting
Sunday
December 6 Quarterly BoD meeting
All
meetings are scheduled to start at 6:30 pm
at the Preston L. Yancey
Fire House.
If
you or one of your neighbors are
not already receiving EHHOA E-mails please
direct them to our Website
and sign up to
receive E-mail
(listserv) notifications
regarding neighborhood activities or contact
the webmaster at
Webmaster@ehhoa.info.
EHHOA
Board of Directors
President,
Jacques L’Heureux, president@ehhoa.info
Vice
President, Suzanne Reich, vp@ehhoa.info
Treasurer,
Brent Adams treasurer@ehhoa.info
Secretary,
Frank Battaglia secretary@ehhoa.info
ARC
Chair, Nicole Baucom arc@ehhoa.info
Your
volunteer Board Members are committed to
continuing the unique
setting that we enjoy here in Emerald Hills.
Thank you very much for
your assistance and cooperation in making
this an excellent
neighborhood. If you have an interest in
serving on a homeowner’s
association committee, please let one of
the board members know. As
we continue to refresh the shrubs at the
entrance sign area it would
be great to have a landscape committee to
help develop some
alternative designs.
MANAGMENT
SERVICES
Association
& Property Management Services (APMS)
continues as our management
service. Please contact APMS for neighborhood
questions, concerns,
or violations. Their contact information
is provided below.
Contact
Us:
Emerald Hills Homeowners Association, Inc.
PO Box 1024
Fishersville,
VA 22939
Board
Email: Board@ehhoa.info
ARC
Email: arc@ehhoa.info
Website: http://ehhoa.info/
Association & Property Management Services
(APMS)
PO Box 2182 Harrisonburg, VA 22801
200
High Street Bridgewater, VA 22812
Phone: 540-423-3879
Email: office@apmsva.com
Website:
http://www.apmsva.com/homeowner-central.
Submitted by Jacques – 3/31/2020 Rev:
20200401a
Formatted / posted by Webmaster – 20200402ap2