Bella Vista HOA

05-02-2023

The Mayor of Bolingbrook is attending this meeting.

Meeting Wednesday May 3rd at 7:00PM at the Clubhouse. See you there!

04-20-2023

As previously communicated, the HOA Directors met with the Village of Bolingbrook officials on January 9, 2023 to discuss our private street situation. I gave a presentation detailing the history, current state and our requests for resolution. During that meeting, the Village officials listened, discussed some points, then asked for more information. One item asked for was the financial reserve balances relating to future costs of the streets. The HOA Board scheduled and attended a followup meeting on April 17, 2023, which resulted in a “preliminary agreement” between the Village of Bolingbrook and the Bella Vista HOA. This “preliminary agreement” needs to be formalized and approved by the Village of Bolingbrook, which may not happen until June or July 2023.

In summary…

What we asked for:

• All streets transition from Private (owned by Bella Vista) to Public (owned by the Village of Bolingbrook).
• Village takes responsibility for all asphalt streets, curbs and storm sewers.

What we got:

• The Village will assume responsibility and expense for all asphalt maintenance for all roads in Bella Vista. This includes all aspects of project management, scheduling and repaving activities. Estimated by the Village at about $250,000 in present day dollars (which probably is closer to $400,000 in future dollars).
• The ability/offer to use Village of Bolingbrook vendors for future curb, storm sewer and street light maintenance at “village-wide cost levels”, which would be lower than Bella Vista contracting for these services on our own. The Village also offered to manage these projects as part of their “village-wide” contracts.
• We keep our reserve fund balances designated for the asphalt maintenance (about $25,000 in present day dollars by 12/31/2023), which were offered to the Village by us as an incentive to help with the situation. 

What does this mean:

• Bella Vista streets will continue to be Private (owned by Bella Vista).
• All parties avoid the legal ramifications and expenses of having the Village actually “own the streets”. Plat of surveys, setbacks, easements, whatever…
• The village takes over the all street asphalt maintenance. 
• We are responsible for curbs and storm sewers. 
• We are responsible for snowplowing. 
• We are responsible for street lights. 
• It is unknown where “street cleaning” responsibilities fall at this time.

We will discuss this topic during the 3rd Quarter Residents HOA Meeting. Please hold all your questions until the meeting.

The Mayor has been invited to this meeting and expressed interest in attending. To date, there has been no confirmation of her attendance. If I get attendance confirmation, I will let you know.  

We have posted the minutes of the meeting on the website.

04-04-2023

The HOA Board have discussed the topic of Solar Panels and created a Solar Energy Policy.

The document is now posted in Documents.

04/04/2023

Come join us.

11-30-2022

Private Street discussion with El Costa. We had a nice discussion and the event was semi-well attended (we would love even more support next time around!). While El has no “say” in any decision-making process, she can assist in getting our requests to the correct officials at the correct time. 

As previously discussed, Hartz’s heavy construction activity for the last 4 townhouses is about complete, so we are currently preparing to discuss the situation with various Village officials. 

Remember… we are trying to “partner” with the Village to become an integrated Bolingbrook subdivision. Realistically, if this happens, there will be a cost, we just don’t know what that is yet. One step at a time.  

Recently, the HOA Board met with our Snow Removal Company, Green Earth, to discuss this year’s snow removal. 

Here is a summary of the discussion:

1. Rubber tipped plows will be used on the vehicles for the driveways to minimize scraps (note the word minimize as they are still scraping snow off asphalt with heavy machinery).Also, rubber doesn’t scrap as well as metal, some residual snow may be left on the driveways.

2. It is advised to REMOVE all yard lights, driveway/sidewalk decorations and dog chains from the areas where they shovel. They are NOT responsible for damage to “things hidden under snow” or in harm’s way. Dog chains on front porches broke 3 snowblowers last year.

3. They do not remove all snow from driveways in the first pass, as they use different personnel and methods to remove snow depending on depth, manpower and timing. Please give they the time to complete their job. 

4. Please do not ask for or expect “special requests” as their contracted job is to remove snow from all driveways, roads and sidewalks.

5. They will salt “less” this year, as we agreed last year was “too much”, but they will salt. 

6. For “big snows”, there may only be one person on-site for a while to keep the roads clear. The bulk of the personnel will come when the snow is scheduled to stop.

7. The “snow removal” timeline is two hours, but that all depends on “has the snow stopped”, “when is it scheduled to stop” and “personnel”. 

Please be patient with the snow removal process, it is a big job.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. 

The newly elected Bella Vista Board met to discuss current projects, statuses and 2023 plans. 

Here are some possible items of interest:

1. The HOA Board Director assignments are staying the same for 2023. I will continue as President, Lela as Secretary and Don as Treasurer, although as communicated before, we all do a little of everything. 

2. The HOA Board met with Green Earth to discuss the upcoming Snow season and to discuss the previous Landscaping season. Please look forward to a “Snow Season Email” coming soon!

3. The Solara “Mailbox Move” Project is complete. Yes, children were conceived and delivered during this project timeline, but we finally got a concrete contractor to do it for less than my first born son. And I must say, it looks marvelous. 

4. The 2 Street Lights on Mandalay are now working. Don worked with ComEd and our electrician to finally wrangle that beast and get the power working again.  

5. The FAID elevator test at the clubhouse was conducted and went very well. 

6. Four Seasons is coming out December 13 for our annual clubhouse furnace check. 

7. The final original exterior Clubhouse light fixture was replaced last week.We now have all new fixtures on the exterior of the Clubhouse. 

8. Please remember, any maintenance to the “exterior of your townhouse” and/or “HOA Common Area by your townhouse” must be approved by the Architectural Committee or HOA Board, depending on the nature of the work. Please DO NOT assume “something you want” is automatically approved. Please note that all Driveways, most sidewalks and lawns (outside of your plat of survey) are HOA Common Area.

9. Please read the Bella Vista Buzz for the Activities Committee updates!