June/July 2022 Newsletter
June 11, 2022 – BOD Quarterly Meeting is Saturday June 11th 10:30am-
12:00pm at the Blaine Library Conference Room. There is limited seating of 15 people, so for those interested in attending please RSVP to [email protected] to reserve a seat. Typically at board meetings in the past around 8-10 homeowners show up to attend.
Birch Bay Waterslides is Opening:
The Birch Bay Waterslides are opening on Saturday June 11th from 10:00am – 6:00pm. If you need to cool off once the summer heat wave arrives this will be a great place to take your families and out of town guests. For additional information and prices check out their website at: https://www.birchbaywaterslides.net
Happy Father’s Day to all the Fathers on June 19th.
If in doubt on what to do on Father’s Day head to Birch Bay, Blaine Harbor, Semiahmoo for a picnic or visit local restaurants or have a barbeque in your back yard. We are fortunate that the Loomis Trail Neighborhood is within miles to these waterfront locations. Plus, enjoy playing golf at Loomis Trail Golf Course and/or Visit the Gift Shop if you need to pick up a gift as well.
July 4th in Blaine and in the Neighborhood:
Blaine will be celebrating again the Old Fashioned Parade and Fireworks this year. For additional, other fun downtown activities email staff at: [email protected] or check out the website for a full listing of fun things to do at www.blainechamber.com.
For new neighbors that have moved into the neighborhood FIREWORKS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. FAMILIES NEED TO SHARE WITH ALL HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS TOO.
WRS Landscape Company Lead Changes Took Place In May:
Meet our new WRS lead Sam Likkel who has replaced our prior long term WRS employee lead Kevin Fry. Sam has now been the lead for about a month and has been working very hard to keep the Loomis Trail at the Greens neighborhood looking good despite the excess rain for May and June so far. Sam’s crew will vary during the summer depending on need and so far with the rain things take longer to do work than the nice warmer days they look forward too.
Many of you will have noticed in your own yards the growth of your lawns has increased faster, the weeds as well, and the front HOA gate geraniums have taken a beating by the rain as well. In past years the front gate landscape beds have always been planted right around May 1st on May Day. If you look at the May cover newsletter photo for last month you will see how pretty the entry gates are compared to now.
Today, the WRS crew deadheaded all the mushy geranium plant blooms and fertilized the plants. As many have noticed the flowers look pretty wilted from the ongoing excessive rains we have had compared to other past years. The good news is there is hope the flower blooms will return in several weeks with the forecast next week looking more promising for sunshine.
Also, individual homeowners need to refrain from asking WRS staff to do special landscaping requests. The crew has a contract to follow outlined by the BOD and WRS. Any and all work is to come through from the direction of the BOD, Judy Hamner, and/or Paty Williams the homeowner volunteer who has been assisting with the East Gate requests. The WSR staff will be responding with this same messaging of this as well.
For home owners that are interested in securing landscape work on their property; however, they can discuss and arrange this with Sam for a bid, but it is outside the scope of the contract. WRS does do individual work for some of our homeowner properties on both short and long term needs.
Another important piece of information to update all homeowners about is that the HOA is responsible for mowing all the boulevards to make sure that there is unity in mowing them weekly. The exception to this has always been for those that want to mow their front boulevard grass this has been allowed and most of the boulevard grass areas where homeowners want to individually mow them is in Div. 2 on Castlerock Drive. This is fine; however, there have been sales of homes that have occurred and some owners no longer wanting to maintain them.
Sam and his crew will do their best to continue mowing the boulevards except for the ones that clearly want to and do a great job with their lawn mowing. With this in mind, unless there is rare exception our neighborhood is mowed on Thursdays. This means those that want to mow their own front boulevards should be mowing their front grass areas on Wednesdays so they know NOT to mow them. If at any time they look like they need mowing, the crew has been instructed to mow them so that the boulevards are the same height for the most part for uniformity. Recently, there were a few homeowners where this caused confusion and they have been cleared up. When in doubt ask questions, or send your inquiry to Judy Hamner if there is anyone else that has decided they no longer want to mow their front boulevards. This is the time to decide this moving forward.
Ryan Barnes, Board President met with Sam on June 9th and five of the WRS crew members to review the needs of the neighborhood, discuss, the calendar scope of work, weeding of the roundabouts, and much more. Hopefully, things will settle out once the rain stops and the sunshine of summer returns making the workload more manageable again. Also, thanks to the neighbors that have welcomed the crew and have said hello as well.
Safety in the Neighborhood in Regards to Sidewalks:
The BOD has noticed that there are about 14 unleveled sidewalk squares throughout the neighborhood. The board has identified the potential tripping/falling hazards with blue spray paint on the specific squares that walkers will take notice of effective June 9th. Bids are being solicited for grinding down the sidewalk edges at this time. The project work to be done will be taken care of as soon as possible with more details to come with a timeline.
Bike for Sale:
One of our own neighbors is selling an “Almost New Bike” that is barely used and looks brand new. She has all the original paperwork and it is a Trek Electra Townie multi speed bike. She has also included the bike helmet, gloves metal front basket as well all for a reduced price of $250.00 or best offer. Norma Jean can be reached at [email protected].
Spring and Summer Requests for Landscaping Changes Are on the Rise and Responsible Homeownership is Expected Living in an HOA:
First, the Board of Directors would like to thank the many responsible homeowners that have submitted their required paperwork for making changes to their landscaping plans and other types of changes that require board approval. For those that have not, please know that neighbors notice changes and will contact Judy Hamner, board members or neighbors too and inquire about them or whether or not approval was granted by the BOD.
As a group, the board works in the best interest of the HOA and while some homeowners might not like the response they receive at times, it is what it is a board decision. For those that ignore submitting paperwork, it then is more difficult to “back pedal” and have to explain why they did changes without board approval and the potential for fines having to be possibly implemented. So when in doubt, always ask questions even after researching the CC & R’s and the rules which are listed on the HOA website. Plus, this topic is continually mentioned throughout the year in monthly newsletters too.
Given this topic, spring and summer continue to be a busy time of the year with multiple requests being submitted. In just the last two weeks five requests have been submitted and these plans take time to review, respond, and for volunteer board members (not paid) to do their best overall review of requests.
For those that expect their requests to be rushed through for a review should know this is not going to happen when multiple requests of all kinds are coming in and need to be looked at in fine detail. Some requests need more review of details compared to others. Please know that new board members are also learning a lot in their roles trying to digest the information as well. Also, CC & R’s and rules need to be followed and the board members wish to remind homeowners that a response time can take up to 30 days and even longer if plans are questioned, changes need to be made, or happen to be denied in part or in full with a request to submit a new plan.
All homeowners that purchase a home in the neighborhood should familiarize themselves with the rules and to say at times “they did not know there was a rule” or they “forgot” to submit the official paperwork ahead of time is not a reason to ignore the rules and go ahead with doing a project. It is not acceptable to the board or fellow neighbors that share their concerns and complain.
Also, for those that forget about the Complaint Form it is posted on the website for neighbors to use when necessary as mentioned in the past newsletters too.
The biggest drive thru complaints from spring and going into summer are in regards to keeping homeowners landscaping kept up on a regular basis. This includes lots and home properties that must be mowed even more often with the heavier rains that have caused grass and weeds to grow faster. Also, a well-kept yard means mowing up grass and using a grass catcher to pick up the grass as it leaves discolored brown grass and is unsightly and neighbors continue to mention this. Also, weed eating and grass clippings should be cleaned up off the sidewalks and not left. With this also comes responsible trimming/cutting of overgrown trees/ shrubs with regular maintenance, and keeping all overflow of limbs and trees from the sidewalk cut in a pristine and uniform landscape appearance.
Several homeowners have worked hard to achieve this now and it is well noticed and appreciated by many neighbors. Please be patient as some neighbors have secured landscapers to do the work professionally in the coming weeks. On behalf of the board, your neighbors, this is much appreciated and keep it up.
The next newsletter will be in early August and photos and submissions for the next newsletter will be July 28th. Due to a busy summer, the June and July newsletter were combined into one.
Submitted by,
Kathy Barnes
BOD Secretary and Newsletter Volunteer