General

04-06-2022

The HOA Board has posted the Insurance-Roof Policy on the website under documents. 
If you don’t read anything else in the policy, please read the following. 

1. It is important to mention that it is the responsibility of the homeowner to ensure that their insurance policy includes the roof of their unit. Some townhome policies may have been erroneously written as a “condo” policy which does not include the roof of the condo since in a condo building the roof is generally considered a common area item.

If you have any doubt as to what your insurance policy covers, please, please call your agent and ask, as it needs to cover 100% of the replacement cost of your townhouse, which includes the roof. Please do not assume “all is well”, as it may not be.

02-19-2022

Feel free to skip the story and go to the summary… 

Story:

The recent sightings of coyotes in our subdivision reminds me of a true story that happened about 20ish years ago. Up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin by St. Germain, we have a family cottage. My mother and stepfather spent a lot of time up there enjoying the peace and tranquility of nature. One crisp Fall day, as summer is definitely over by Labor Day, this true story unfolded. My mother put on her walking shoes, grabbed her fly-swatter and went out for her morning walk in the woods. She was enjoying the beautiful colors of autumn and getting her daily exercise at the same time, who could ask for more? Then… all of a sudden she spots a black bear in the woods, he was foraging for berries or whatever they forage for… This black bear looks fierce and menacing, as normally you see them in their cages at Brookfield Zoo where they look sad and bored. The bear spots her and maybe snares, maybe winks, (we are not sure about that detail) as he pads through the terrain always eyeing her movements. She is very careful and decides to take a different path back to the cottage as to not upset the bear. She makes it back to the safety of the cottage and quickly tells my step-father of her alarming encounter. After some intense deliberation and careful thought, she picks up the phone and dials the Vilas County Wildlife Department (probably with one of those vicious rotary phones that hurts your index finger). She is connected to the supervisor who probably just came back from cleaning a couple of Walleye after her early morning fishing trip. After my mother details her hair-raising encounter with the black bear, she asks “what can you do about it?”. After the supervisor finishes her donut and washes it down with a swig of morning coffee, she politely responds “Well… that’s where they live, honey”. My mother, speechless for a brief moment, thanked her for the information and went on to have a wonderful day. The bear was seen from time to time, always looking happy and content, but he always watching out for those unpredictable humans, as you never know what they are going to do next…

Summary: 

Having said that, I called and talked to the Bolingbrook Animal Control person and here is the summary of the conversation:

1. Coyotes are protected (like it or not)
2. They hang around with family members, not packs
3. We cohabitate (like it or not)
4. Haze them, yell at them, call them names, stump your feet, spit at them
5. Act big, they are afraid of big, act like you are in charge, do not show fear, do not act like prey
6. Act crazy… they don’t like crazy, however they still may keep an eye on you from a distance
7. Buy/use a Blowhorn, get one at Lowes or Home Depot or Amazon or your nearest Blowhorn store
8. DO NOT FEED THEM (they love the small animals that hang around your bird feeders!) 

1. Work normally starts an hour or so before the snowfall SHOULD stop (based upon a weather service)
2. General order (but not set in stone as workers adjust as they go due to manpower and skillset…)
   1. Large streets, medium streets, cul-de-sacs (similar to Village of Bolingbrook and most cities)
   2. Bella Vista sidewalks, Townhouse sidewalks
   3. Driveway edges, Driveway proper (edges get done first, then another team does the rest later)
   4. Salting
3. Equipment used: Large plowing machine, pickup truck with plow, small plowing machine, snow blowers, snow shovels, blower
4. Timeframe: there is much to do, it takes time (hours and hours and hours). Please be patient.
5. It may not be perfect at the end… but few things are. The HOA will and does complain about LARGE issues. Please let us know about the LARGE issues.

01/05/2022

The first quarter 2022 Bella Vista HOA Residents meeting will be held on Wednesday January 26 2022 at 7:00 at the Clubhouse. 
If you have any questions, concerns or topics of interest, please email them to the HOA Board BEFORE the meeting so the HOA Board has time to review and discuss. 
As always, there will be a formal presentation, a quiz (which may be more difficult this quarter) and Q&A.  
Masks ARE required unless the pandemic abruptly ends in the next 20 days. If you feel you are at risk, unsafe, or sick, please DO NOT attend. 
As always, the presentation and minutes will be posted on the website (www.bellavistabolingbrook.org) later.

12/20/2021

Clubhouse street light – At long last, ComEd came out and fixed the Clubhouse street light. On July 14th 2021, Its brilliant light lit up Bella Vista Blvd for the first time in the modern era. Many thanks go out to Don for his many phone calls and hard fought battles to resolve this nagging issue.

Downed street light – Pole was knocked down by a Budget Rental Truck hit-and-run on June 30. Clubhouse Video confirmed the hit-and-run. Police report submitted. Insurance company called. Electrician/street-light-guy called and analyzed. The street light repair will take time to analyze, order and replace as we are still in a pandemic and shipping is slow and backed up.

As of 9/21/2021 the street light pole has arrived at the local distribution hub. Expected availability for the installer is 11/04/2021. The work to assemble, deliver and erect may be completed in 3-4 weeks. Stay patient.

As of 12/08/2021 the street light has been delivered and installed. However, there is still a problem with the brackets for the street sign (the brackets broke). They have been ordered. No delivery date has been given. Stay very, very patient.

As of 12/15/2021, the brackets have arrived after a pandemic delay. The electrician is now going to schedule a truck out to Bella Vista to finish the job. Hopefully this is completed in time for Christmas. Thanks for being very, very patient in this difficult time.

As of 12/20/2021, the signs have been put up on the pole and this saga is over!!

11/17/2021

The HOA is taking steps to move the Solara Mailbox from Bella Vista Blvd to Solara Court. There is not an exact timeline yet, but we are busy getting quotes and will move quickly as winter is coming. We hope to get it done before winter, but this may have to wait until spring.

Update: The weather is getting too cold, this project will need to wait until spring.

11/05/2021

As previously communicated at last quarter’s HOA Meeting, the HOA Board is working with a company to perform a Reserve Study. When the company meets with us (in December), they will be measuring, counting and analyzing all Bella Vista roads, townhouses, sidewalks, etc.

Please join us for the quarterly HOA meeting Tuesday Oct 26th 7:00 at the Clubhouse. Masks are required as per CDC guidance.