April Showers – Soon Will Bring More Sunshine Hopefully!
Landscaping Boulevard Update – WRS Landscaping Update & Reminders:
The past month has been more wet in 2021 than 2020, which means the grass boulevards are much wetter than homeowners realize. Some of you may or may not have noticed during March WRS our landscaping company for the HOA spent considerable time taking out the extensive moss that has accumulated over the past two years, thatched the boulevards, and has been continually maintaining the boulevards to enhance the quality of the grass areas.
Also, all homeowners need to be extra careful to not drive on any grass areas, park their cars even partially on the edge, or drive over corners next to their driveways which can easily ruin the grass and become an eye sore area to the neighborhood. This is just another reminder and it is important to share with all household drivers, especially with younger family members that drive and return home from college this spring and summer. Just as important too are when guests are planning to visit to instruct them to NOT PARK IN THE GRASS AREAS too. Instruct them to park in your driveways and any of the many paved pull outs. This especially needs to be discussed with any vendors coming to homes to do landscaping, household maintenance, and especially moving trucks; as well as groups assisting when new and old HOA members are moving in and out of residences. Keep in mind too, if having a large group visiting and the last resort is to park on the street, this can only be done with vehicles being parked on one side of the street so that emergency vehicles can easily drive to neighbors in need such as fire trucks, ambulances, and sheriff responders, etc.
The front boulevards will soon have tulips blooming (they are a little late coming up and this is the first time they have been planted) and followed by the tulips will be the geraniums planted in May at the front gates. Some inquiries have been made also to when the planting will happen at the other gate too and the large planters will be filled with flowers within the coming weeks to brighten this area. It has been way too cold to fill the large planters this early. The temperatures in the late night and early mornings have been below 32 degrees this week alone. Two of the planters have been stored by WRS as they were ceramic planters and we did not want to leave them out in the cold during the winter months.
Also, the recent major windstorm last weekend left many limbs and branches scattered around the neighborhood and WRS was called to come pick up the larger broken branches. In between their visits, please place limbs in the grass boulevards as they will be picked up or feel free to pick up and put in your own garbage tote for those that don’t mind doing this.
The recent wind storm also created a little more havoc to the neighborhood as the wind took down a stop sign at the east gate, neighbors lost some trees, knocked down fencing that needs replacing, and on with the neighborhood garbage day being on Monday it created a disruption to some neighbors garbage cans and totes totally blowing over by the heavy winds, thus causing garbage to blown around the neighborhood and even landing in the ponds. Thanks to those the picked up their garbage mess as this was not a fun job or to the drivers that saw this first hand in the early morning hours. As a result of this, just a nice neighborly reminder if there is heavy wind the night before the Monday garbage pick-up day to wait until the morning to put the totes out.
Drive Thru Winter 2021 Updates:
The drive thru winter quarter neighborhood viewing of landscaping, parking of household vehicles, household debris around homes, garbage cans in view, and more resulted in 13 homeowners being notified of issues that needed action per the CC & R’s. Keep in mind that Judy Hamner (Property Manager) has made contact with those involved and so far only 6 remaining home owners still need to follow through on actions necessary. She will continue to work with those ongoing that needed a little more time to resolve issues.
Also, some of these issues have been ongoing and we tend to see some of the same repeat homeowners that need to address concerns repeatedly. It is important for homeowners to understand that to live in our neighborhood means to follow CC & R’s in the best interest of the entire neighborhood and that CC & R’s need to be followed no matter what the excuse is. Also, written complaints are made after unsuccessful attempts to remedy problems and while some neighbors may get upset when being notified of actions that need addressing it can always be resolved by knowing that the quarterly drive thru events happen to consistently ensure that the neighborhood is looking as beautiful as possible throughout the year. Plus, keep in mind some neighbors are the ones that have to look at yards not kept up, homes needing repairs, debris in yards from their windows on a regular basis. Everyone that lives in this neighborhood is to follow the rules whether they own the home or have renters living in the home as a reminder too.
Current Home Sales and Pending Sales Continue:
As many neighbors have probably noticed if you have seen the signs in the neighborhood or get the Zillow listings in your email notifications home sales continue at Loomis Trails as it is a very desirable neighborhood to live in and this is also one of the many reasons to keep the neighborhood looking pristine throughout the year to keep home values increasing.
Currently at this time there are two homes with pending sales and three homes for sale without signs in their front yards. There has been a lot of movement in the last year as many have seen their property values increase which is promising for the entire neighborhood real estate values. Thank you to everyone that works towards a common goal to keep up their homes looking good when realtors are viewing properties with their clients weekly and many positive compliments are shared by realtors too.
Also, in the past several months many new folks have moved into the neighborhood, so please say hello and introduce yourselves to welcome new neighbors to the Loomis Trail neighborhood and Blaine/Birch Bay community as several are new to Whatcom County or out of state.
Coyote Report Again:
One of our neighbors DJ Davisson reported on March 30th a coyote left tracks in their gardens, along with poop droppings on the sidewalk too and she wanted the neighborhood community to know. As many neighbors that walk early in the morning or late at night there has been ongoing coyote howling for years too, so the coyotes are not going to go away and some of our neighbors have also voiced that they enjoy listening to the distant howling.
It has been noted for those that read posts from the Next Door Blaine/Birch Bay or other Social Media postings that many neighborhoods also have repeated sightings not only of coyotes, but cougars too on occasion in much of the Blaine, Birch Bay, and Semiahmoo areas throughout the year and our neighborhood at Loomis Trail is a part of this area too. This means it will most likely be a common occurrence as part of our environment that we live in and for new neighbors moving in, this is good information to know about.
Home Painting, Landscape Reminders, and More:
This is the season when neighbors think about painting their homes, doing some remodeling, changing their front yard landscaping, and more. It is so important to know that homeowners read and understand the rules and CC & R’s before making changes and improvements as anything in the front yard that is in viewing from the road that can be seen typically needs approval. If you think you should send a request in to Judy Hamner (Property Manager) you most likely should. Keep in mind, all changes need to be made in writing with the proper forms found on the website submitted for review. Judy will forward requests to the HOA board members and the typical timeline for a response can be up to 30 days, however, most responses are within about two weeks as board members are volunteers and to expect a turnaround time of a few days is not to be assumed or even expected so it is important for homeowners to plan ahead.
Things to keep in mind are if you are thinking about painting your house a different color including home and trim colors, you MUST submit a change of color request with the form and exact sample colors of the new colors scheme being requested before any painting can begin. Once approval is made, painting can begin. If the colors are exactly the same with no changes, painting can proceed without a request to paint. Keep in mind color schemes need to look appealing to the close neighbors and overall image to the neighborhood too.
If you are planning to change your front yard to reduce for example your grass area to make new landscaped beds or change areas of any kind that would be visibly noticeable this needs to be requested. Also, adding bark to keep colors similar to the entire neighborhood and if anyone wants to add rock in beds this too for example would need board approval. Just remember when in doubt, submit a request form as then it is documented when neighbors ask what was approved too. To have to remove or change something after it has been done is no fun, plus, a financial mistake as well.
Spring Moles – What Pests They Can Be to Yards:
This is the season from now until mid-summer that moles like to befriend and sometimes destroy well-groomed grass areas. This happens at the entrance gate for example too and WRS works hard to remedy the moles from not destroying the area. For new neighbors that are learning too well, just a few suggestions from neighbors that deal with this on a yearly basis to take care of it at the early stages as moles like to go from yard to yard moving on. Sometimes it is good to get to know your neighbor and find out what remedies and tips work and don’t work especially with new neighbors moving in.
HOA Website Subscribers:
Aaron Rockwell our website master shared we have 63 subscribers to the website. We know that there are 90 homeowners and we want to make sure all homeowners and renters are reading the monthly newsletters and updates. If you happen to be in conversations with neighbors as the weather gets warmer more conversations happen, and if you think about it to make sure and ask folks if they get the postings and news updates. Judy Hamner also promotes this to homeowners as well for new buyers as a way to be connected to the neighborhood. Plus, real estate agents know about our web site as well. Thanks to everyone that has signed up and those that continue to spread the news to others to subscribe.
For the next newsletter, send submission and photos by April 21st to [email protected] please.
Happy Easter to all this weekend and there might be some special eggs throughout the neighborhood to find and/or painted rocks too who knows! Plus, just in time the rabbits are starting to show up this spring in the neighborhood too.
Submitted by,
Kathy Barnes
HOA Newsletter Volunteer Board Member Secretary
[Cover photo credit: Roberta Reyes]