Find out what's going on
in the Belle Terra community.
| FIOS Is Here!: FIOS, the high-speed Internet service from Verizon, is now available in our community. Check out the Verizon site online, or look for Verizon correspondence in your mailboxes. There are a variety of FIOS packages and options. Depending on the package chosen, members of our community can get high-speed Internet access, phone service and television service. And it's cheaper, faster and (reportedly) more reliable than the Internet services provided by Comcast. | | October 5, 2008 | | | | Landscaping Project Meeting: The Belle Terra HOA is interested in lining up more landscaping projects to help enhance our community. There will be a meeting to discuss potential landscaping projects on Sunday, August 24th, at the Keener residence in the Lakes. The residence is located at 22256 Val Varaita Drive. Current projects under discussion include the "Street Trees for the Lakes" initiative, as well as aeration for the three small ponds/lakes in our community. The ultimate goal will be to come up with a well-defined list of projects for consideration and prioritization by the HOA board. | | August 20, 2008 | | | | Entrance Construction Completed: Construction on the Lakes entrance to Croson Lane and both Quail Pond entrances has now been completed. Landscaping has also been installed, and all of the entrances are looking quite nice. Signs for the entrances, i.e. - with text such as "The Lakes of Belle Terra", are currently out for bid. Upon acceptance of a suitable bid, we will be adding signage to the entrances as well. | | June 12, 2008 | | | | Storm Water Management: Loudoun County has extended an offer to the Belle Terra HOA to assume responsibility for the maintenance of the stormwater management infrastructure in the community. This essentially means that the county would assume responsibility for the maintenance of the pond and the small lake in the Lakes neighborhood, as well as the small pond in Quail Pond Estates. Note that the agreement covers maintenance and not improvements, which would still be in the purview of the HOA. The Board intends to accept the agreement at an upcoming board meeting. | | May 6, 2008 | | | | Other HOA Projects: The Belle Terra HOA is actively seeking the help of volunteers to assist in putting together project proposals for consideration by the board. First, the HOA is strongly considering the purchase of automated radar/camera systems to discourage speeders within the Belle Terra community. Second, the HOA is interested in aeration and filtering equipment for the lakes and ponds within the community. Both of these projects are items that the board would like to accomplish this year if both technically and fiscally feasible. | | April 25, 2008 | | | Entrance Construction Begins!: Earlier this year, the HOA approved construction projects for the Lakes entrance from Croson Lane to Val Varaita Drive and for the two Quail Pond entrances on Croson Lane. The goal of these construction projects is to ensure that all external entrances to the Belle Terra neighborhoods have: 1) a consistent and unified look, and 2) a look that is appropriate for the high-quality homes in the Belle Terra community.
Construction began on the Lakes entrance this week. Construction should also begin soon on the other entrances. | | April 25, 2008 | | | | Street Lights in the Park: The street lights in the Park are now operational. As part of the "Plan of Record," the developer was required to install street lights in the Park at Belle Terra. These are strategic street lights, which means that they are present only at street intersections. While the lights and basic construction activities were completed by the developer, the HOA had to work with Virginia Power to get them to install and activate meters for each street light (which is why it took so long to get them working). | | April 4, 2008 | | | | Van Metre Construction Debris: Residents of the Lakes of Belle Terra have reported that construction debris from the Van Metre home construction site on Croson Lane has been blowing into the trees that border the Lakes, leading to an unsightly appearance for the neighborhood. Van Metre has undertaken efforts to clean up the debris. The HOA has asked them to regularly police the area so that the Lakes is not impacted by the construction. | | March 27, 2008 | | | | FIOS News 2: Verizon Map Surprise: Verizon began the final steps to bring FIOS (which supports high speed Internet, phone and media access) to Belle Terra. They completed their construction in Quail Pond, then started in the Park. However, they were ultimately stunned to discover that Belle Terra Drive was not a through street. This "map surprise" disrupted their plans, and led to them temporarily pulling the contractors. They have promised the HOA that they will be back to complete FIOS construction work, but have not provided any dates. | | February 27, 2008 | | | | Welcome to Kristy Luxton: Welcome to Kristy Luxton, who has agreed to be the Secretary for the HOA. Her first meeting in her new role will be January 31st, at the Legacy Elementary School. The Board would like to thank Kristy for volunteering. | | January 30, 2008 | | | | Street Trees, Part 2: We were unable to put together a practical plan for homeowner opt-in street trees in time for a fall planting. David Keener is going to try to arrange a plan for a spring planting. More details to follow when they become available. | | January 9, 2008 | | | | Neighborhood Watch Meeting: The last Neighborhood Watch meeting for 2007 will be on December 19th, 7:00 PM at Clyde's. Come join us and help keep our neighborhoods safe. | | December 12, 2007 | | | | FIOS News: The Belle Terra community is on the schedule to have FIOS installed by March 8, 2008, according to information received from Verizon. Many thanks to resident Rusty Wood for tracking down this information. Installation would "do away" with all of the orange cables sticking up out of the ground in our community. | | November 19, 2007 | | | | Holiday Trash Pickup Schedule 2007: The company that provides trash pickup services for the Belle Terra community, AAA, has released their 2007 holiday pickup schedule. The schedule shows how pickups will be impacted by Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. It also indicates when Christmas trees will be picked up. | | October 11, 2007 | | | Street Trees for the Lakes: Residents of the Lakes of Belle Terra have asked repeatedly about the possibility of getting street trees for the lakes (like the street trees in the Park). Street trees are not on the Loudoun-approved plan-of-record for the Lakes, so the developer is not obligated to plant such trees.
However, the HOA is in a position to broker a deal for street trees with Premier Landscaping, the company currently doing the landscaping services for the Belle Terra community. As discussed at the last board meeting, there would be some ground rules for any such deal. First, the homeowners would have to pay the cost of the street trees (at a lower group price negotiated by the HOA). Second, participation by homeowners would be strictly voluntary (no one is obligated to purchase trees if they don't want them).
For discussion purposes, the cost that has been proposed is $130 per street tree (including planting and warranty). The street trees would be between 6 and 7 feet tall at the time of planting. The type of tree being proposed is a maple (since they seem to do well in the community), probably a Red Sunset maple or similar variety.
More details will be posted soon. If you have any questions or comments, please contact David Keener via email at dkeener@keenertech.com, or via phone at (703) 858-4626. | | October 5, 2007 | | | Mandatory Water Restrictions: The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution declaring a water shortage emergency and instituting mandatory water restrictions for customers of the Loudoun County Sanitation Authority (LCSA)in eastern Loudoun County. The ongoing drought has greatly reduced water levels in the reservoirs used by LCSA to provide water to its customers.
Voluntary restrictions imposed by the County Administrator in early August reduced demand by approximately 10%, but not enough to significantly impact the water levels in light of the continuing lack of rainfall in the area since the beginning of August. | | October 4, 2007 | | | | October 2007 ARC Meeting: The October ARC meeting will be October 22nd at Ben Gaither's house, which is located at the following address: 22119 Quail Pond Pl. Meetings begin at 7:30 PM. | | September 28, 2007 | | | Dead Trees Taken Down: The dead trees in the "football field" area of the Parks were taken down by Dan Goodrich, the president of the HOA. The board basically felt that having the dead trees taken down looked better than leaving the dead trees standing. Dan also arranged with the garbage service for the dead trees that had been taken down to be hauled away (apologies for the fact that it took a week for them to get hauled away).
Discussions are currently in progress with the developer about replacing the trees. First, the replacement is unlikely to happen this fall. Second, we''re also talking about replacing the pin oaks, which have clearly NOT done well, with a street tree more suited to the community, like a maple of some kind (Red Sunset, Autumn Blaze, October Glory, or something similar).
| | September 25, 2007 | | | | Next ARC Meeting: The next ARC meeting will be August 27th, which is the 4th Monday of the month. It's unusual, but can occur as it does this month, that the 4th Monday of the month falls after the 4th Thursday of the month. So this month's ARC meeting occurs later than the Board meeting. Anyway, the ARC meeting will be held at Ben Gaither's house, at the following address: 22119 Quail Pond Pl. Meetings begin at 7:30 PM. | | August 23, 2007 | | | | Automatic Debit Form: Sequoia Management has provided a form which can be submitted by Belle Terra residents who would like to have their quarterly assessments withdrawn automatically from their banking accounts. This was in response to a request from a number of community residents. The form is available online in PDF form. | | August 23, 2007 | | | | Dolomite Hills Paving, Update 6: Now that Dolomite Hills and other street have been paved, the shoulders need to be built up to match the roadway. Centex is planning on doing that work on Tuesday, August 7th. | | August 4, 2007 | | | | Val Varaita Opening, Part 6: The entrance from Val Varaita to Croson Lane was paved today. It's still going to need a top coat of asphalt, and the developer still has the entrance blocked off for now (or for however long the yellow tape stays up). | | August 3, 2007 | | | | Dolomite Hills Paving, Update 5: Dolomite Hills and other streets that needed their top coat of asphalt are being paved today. Finally! | | August 3, 2007 | | | | Street Signs: Today, the missing stop sign at the end of Lago Stella was replaced. A "No Outlet" sign was installed on the upper section of Lago Stella. The badly warped post for the stop sign at the end of Dolomite Hills was replaced. And Sequoia repair personnel went through the neighborhoods and fixed any signs that were leaning. | | August 1, 2007 | | | | Dolomite Hills Paving, Update 4: Well, Centex obviously failed to get Dolomite Hills paved by July 30th. They are still doing some of the prep work for paving though, including removing asphalt away from manhole covers and scraping in front of driveways. Paving is imminent, although we don't have a specific scheduled date. | | August 1, 2007 | | | Val Varaita Opening, Part 5: Good news, and bad news. First, the bad news. The construction folks buried the landscaping rocks that board member David Keener was trying to preserve for HOA use. It looks like some of the construction folks didn''t get the word to save them. The good news is that A) the street is ready to be paved, and B) the land has been graded on both sides of the street section, and there should be ample room for a nice entrance design.
The paving schedule is somewhat problematic. The contractor is waiting for another paving project to be ready, so that the contractor can do a "twofer", i.e. - do two projects in the same timeframe. So, we'll be waiting for paving until the schedule dovetails with that other construction project. | | July 30, 2007 | | | | Dolomite Hills Paving, Update 3: Centex is the developer for the portion of the Park closest to Ryan Road. They are currently doing a great deal of work in preparation for paving, which is scheduled to commence on July 30th. Prep work includes installing strategic street lights in the Park, ditch maintenance, fixing shoulder pot holes, etc. For homeowners who have had sod replaced in their ditches, please help out the developer by thoroughly and regularly watering the new sod. If you don't, the sod will die in this summer heat. | | July 20, 2007 | | | | Community Landscaping: The HOA is getting serious about landscaping to improve the overall look of the community and we need YOUR help. We're looking to put together an extended committee of interested and committed people who want to help make our community look better. These people will be responsible for proposing landscaping projects for our four neighborhoods, which will collectively roll up into a multi-year, phased approach for landscaping our overall community. We will be putting a schedule of meetings together. Look for more information online soon. | | July 20, 2007 | | | | New ARC Meeting Schedule: First, please welcome Ben Gaither (Quail Pond) and Ted Purnell (Lakes) as new members of the Belle Terra Architectural Review Committee (ARC). With new membership, ARC meetings will now be held on the 4th Monday of each month. Meetings will alternate between the homes of the ARC members, with the address for any given meeting provided by the Calendar page of this web site. | | July 12, 2007 | | | | Street Lights in the Park: Street lights and associated boxes have been delivered to the Park for eventual installation. The items are currently stored at the end of the first Belle Terra cul-de-sac. No word from the developer on when the installation will be taking place. | | July 6, 2007 | | | | Val Varaita Opening, Part 4: Construction began today on the Val Varaita Drive connection to Croson Lane. Some trees were taken down and the cul-de-sac was demolished in preparation for further construction work. Dave Keener spoke to the foreman, and made sure that the landscaping rocks which previously blocked the connection were saved to one side for future use by the HOA. | | July 5, 2007 | | | | Val Varaita Opening, Part 3: The surveyer was out today marking up the Val Varaita Drive cul-de-sac in preparation for the construction of the connection to Croson Lane. Dave Keener spoke to the surveyer, looked at the surveyer's plans and generally got a solid idea of what the connection will look like. | | July 2, 2007 | | | | Street Signs in the Community: At the urging of Dave Keener, there will be maintenance work done for the street signs in the community. First, the missing stop sign at the intersection of Belle Terra and Lago Stella will be replaced. Second, the warped post for the notorious stop sign at the end of Dolomite Hills will be replaced. Additionally, other crooked street signs will be straightened. | | June 29, 2007 | | | | Dolomite Hills Paving, Part 2: Dan Goodrich has had a conversation with Centex, in which they have assured him that paving of the lower section of Dolomite Hills will commence within the next 30 days. The board will continue to monitor the situation. | | June 26, 2007 | | | | Val Varaita Opening, Part 2: The opening between Val Varaita Drive and Croson Lane is still scheduled to occur. This project may begin at any time. According to Keith Crane and Ted Purnell, who have been diligently tracking this matter, the necessary permits have already been secured by the developer. | | June 25, 2007 | | | | Fence Painting: The fence that borders the side the Park on Ryan Road will be repainted this month. Before painting, some warped and/or damaged boards will be replaced. Painting will be done using an outdoor asphalt-based paint that should prove to be both durable and cost-effective for the community. | | June 14, 2007 | | | | Dolomite Hills - Paving Status: Dan Goodrich, President of the Belle Terra HOA, has been in communication with Centex regarding the paving of the remaining portion of Dolomite Hills. Centex has given him assurances that Dolomite Hills will be paved this summer. The Board of Directors will stay on top of Centex to try to ensure that this long-awaited issue is finally addressed. | | April 27, 2007 | | | | Val Varaita Opening: According to Keith Crane, a resident of the Lakes of Belle Terra, the construction of the entrance to Val Varaita Drive from Croson Lane is eminent, with construction possibly starting within the next 12 weeks. Over the past year, Keith has been in touch with Loudoun County and other government agencies in an effort to get this project completed. Many thanks to Keith for all of his hard work on this matter. | | April 27, 2007 | | | | Dirt Pile in Lakes Removed: The large and unsightly dirt pile that was left in the Lakes at the corner of Lago Stella Drive and Val Varaita Drive by a contractor has been removed. In the future, residents are advised to write down license plate numbers if contractors are seen engaged in unauthorized dumping activities. If this happens again, we'd like to ensure that the contractor pays for the cleanup rather than the community. | | March 9, 2007 | | | | Moe Hill Leaves ARC Committee: Moe Hill, a charter member of Belle Terra's ARC Committee, has resigned from the committee after almost two years of top-notch service to the community. Many kudos to Moe Hill for his dedication and hard work at this sometimes thankless job. | | January 26, 2007 | | | | Jessica Azzarani Leaves as Community Manager: Jessica Azzarano, from Sequoia Management, is no longer the Community Manager for Belle Terra. She has been assigned to manage other communities for Sequoia Management. | | December 6, 2006 | | | | Holiday Trash Pickup Schedule 2006: The company that provides trash pickup services for the Belle Terra community, AAA, has released their 2006 holiday pickup schedule. The schedule shows how pickups will be impacted by Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. It also indicates when Christmas trees will be picked up. | | November 10, 2006 | | | | Entrance Improvements: Meadows Farms will be in the Belle Terra community doing contracted work on the entrances of the Park and Quail Pond on November 15-16th and will be finishing on November 20-21st. | | November 7, 2006 | | | Reminder from the ARC Committee: The members of the Architectural Review and Covenants (ARC) committee would like to remind residents that submitted Architectural Improvement Requests should fully describe the proposed project and should also include a drawing.
The committee strives to approve improvements in a timely manner. Assuming your project is approvable, and most are, the ARC committee does not want your project to be delayed because an incomplete application had to be rejected. | | November 4, 2006 | | | Belle Terra Web Site, Phase 2: Phase 2 of the Belle Terra web site went live today. This release seamlessly augments the site by integrating a full-featured content management system into it. New features include a user login scheme, permission-based access to administrative features and rotating reminders. Banner advertising is also supported, and will be rolled out soon.
Most of the changes will be transparent to users. The primary effect is that it is now considerably easier to update web site content.
Additionally, David Keener, the webmaster, will soon be sending residents information about how residents may login to the site. Belle Terra residents will soon have access to resident-only fetaures and content, including the minutes for the monthly board meetings. | | October 29, 2006 | | | | Site Plan for the Reserve: The site plan for the Reserve at Belle Terra is now available online for the first time. Find out what our newest neighborhhod is going to look like. | | October 10, 2006 | | | | Web Site Glitch Fixed: The Belle Terra web site was partially unavailable for two days due to a configuration glitch at AccuWebHosting.com, the web hosting company for the web site. From October 8-9, the web site was temporarily unavailable using the ".com" and ".org" domain names, but it was still accessible using ".net", i.e. - the web site was only accessible at "www.belleterrahoa.net". | | October 10, 2006 | | | New Architectural Guidelines Submitted to Board: In April 2006, the Board of Directors designated an ARC Recommendations committee to recommend changes to the Belle Terra Architectural Guidelines. This committee was composed of two residents from Quail Pond, two residents from the Lakes and three residents from the Park.
The committee compared the Belle Terra guidelines with those from six other communities and then completely rewrote the guidelines. The committee had more than 15 lengthy meetings over a six-month period. Between meetings, committee members split up the writing assignments, which were then reviewed by the entire committee at the various meetings.
The new Belle Terra Architectural Guidelines were submitted to the Board of Directors at the September 28, 2006 board meeting. It is now up to the board to review the document, make any necessary revisions and ensure an appropriate legal review of the document. | | September 28, 2006 | | | | Lost Cat: Park resident Joann Fisher would like neighbors to be on the look-out for their family cat, who is missing. He goes by the name of Tiger and is grey with a white tummy. If anyone finds him, please call (703) 930-3717. | | August 11, 2006 | | | | Self Defense Workshop for Women: The Loudoun County Sheriff''s Office is sponsoring their 25th annual Self Defense Workshop for Women, to be held on August 15, 2006. | | June 29, 2006 | | | | Neighborhood Watch Signs: New Neighborhood Watch signs were placed near the entrances of the Park and Quail Pond Estates. This is one of the first tangible benefits of Belle Terra's participation in Loudoun County's Neighborhood Watch program. | | June 20, 2006 | | | | Belle Terra Street Sign Replaced: The initial street sign for Belle Terra Drive was installed today by Loudoun County, replacing the temporary wooden sign that was erected when the original sign went missing. | | June 12, 2006 | | | | First Neighborhood Watch Meeting: Rob Crangle (Parks) has organized the first Neighborhood Watch meeting for Belle Terra. All residents of the community are invited to attend the meeting on Tuesday, May 9, at the Arcola Community Center. The address is 24328 Goshen Road, Arcola, VA 20105. Deputy Sheriff Terry Davis from the Loundoun County Sheriff's Office will give a presentation and answer questions. The meeting is from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM. | | May 9, 2006 | | | | Oakridge Model Now Open: Oakridge Builders now has a model open in the Reserve. Come preview the home offerings for the newest Belle Terra neighborhood. | | May 6, 2006 | | | | New Brambleton Stores: Given the general lack of stores and restaurants in the immediate area, community residents will be glad to know that a variety of stores will be opening soon in the Brambleton Shopping Center. While only Harris Teeter is open so far, the following businesses will be opening soon: Art & Frame Depot, California Tortilla, Caribou Coffee, Cingular, Cold Stone Creamery, Dry Cleaners, Go Bananas! (a children's store), Hair Cuttery, Scotto's Rigatoni Grill and the UPS Store. | | May 3, 2006 | | | | New Community Manager: Andrea Schiffman from Sequoia Management has left the company. She was the designated community manager for Belle Terra. She has been replaced by Jessica Azzarano. The revised contact information is available on the Belle Terra Contacts web page. | | May 2, 2006 | | | | Lakes of Belle Terra Meet & Greet: 7:30 PM, on April 21, 2006. Will be held at the home of Murtada and Fatima located at 43043 Monti Cimini Court. Lakes residents, look for additional information to come in your mailbox. | | March 10, 2006 | | | | Earth Day Spring Cleanup: 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM, on April 22, 2006. Help keep Belle Terra clean! Pick up gloves and bags at 22344 Belle Terra drive (you can also drop off Earth Day bags at the same address). Kids that help will receive a T-shirt, magnets and coloring books to learn about recycling. Parents, please accompany your children. | | February 15, 2006 | | | | Neighborhood Spring Fling: The Belle Terra 2nd Annual Neighborhood Spring Fling will begin at 3:00 PM on May 13, 2006. Meet at the intersection of Lago Stella and Bella Terra Drive in the Lakes. Kids, we will have prizes for the best decorated bike or wagon! If your last name begins with A-M, you can contribute by bringing a snack or side dish as well as a drink (soda, juice boxes, etc). If your last name begins with N-Z, bring a main dish or dessert. Other items such as paper towels, ice, chairs, tables, trash cans, igloos, etc. are needed too! If you have questions/comments, email Kely Purnell at mswkelly@adelphia.net or call at (703) 723-2324. | | February 3, 2006 | | | | Community Yard Sale: 8:00 AM to Noon, on May 13, 2006. Get to spring cleaning and box up those unwanted or out-grown items so someone else can enjoy them. This season's yard sale is organized by resident Margot Halstead, who can be reached by email at margot_halstead@hotmail.com. | | January 15, 2006 | | | | Explosions Rock Belle Terra: Those rumblings that have been rocking the north-eastern section of Belle Terra around 3:00 PM on weekdays are caused by blasting in the new Amberleigh Estates community. Belle Terra residents have been assured that the localized blasting meets Loudoun County regulations and will have no impact on houses in the Belle Terra community. | | December 1, 2005 | | | | Web Site Launches: The new web site for the Belle Terra Homeowners Association goes live. The web site is expected to become a primary means of communication for community homeowners. | | November 17, 2005 | | | | Lakes Community Meeting: The meeting will be held on November 14th at the residence of Dave and Sally Keener, at 22256 Val Varaita Drive, starting at 7:30 PM. Expected topics include neighborhood social organization, future county building plans, developer issues and ARC-related issues. | | November 11, 2005 | | | | Kids for Katrina: In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, parents and children within the Lakes of Belle Terra worked hard to quickly organize and run a neighborhood initiative that raised $1700 to aid the victims of the disaster. | | September 10, 2005 | | | | Lakes Community Meeting: The first Lakes Community Meeting was held from 7 - 10 PM at the residence of Wayne and Monique Sauer. Residents discussed community issues, including prioritizing developer-related problems (notably drainage issues), working out social organization details for the neighorhood and held an in-depth discussion of future Loudoun County building plans impacting Belle Terra. | | September 10, 2005 | | | | Belle Terra Yard Sale Day: A community-wide yard sale day is planned for September 24, 2005, from 8 AM to 12 AM (rain or shine). There will be advertisements in some local newspapers and some posters distributed. For tucked-away homes planning to participate, place a brightly-colored poster on a main street to assist yard sale attendees. | | August 30, 2005 | | | | Spring Fling Block Party: A block party is scheduled for Saturday, May 7, 2005 at 3PM. There will be a childrens bike parade and food and drinks will be provided "potluck" style. | | May 7, 2005 | | | | First Belle Terra Board Meeting: The first Board of Directors meeting was held on April 25, 2005 at the Ashburn Library. | | April 25, 2005 | | | | Annual Homeowners Meeting: Control of the Belle Terra Homeowners Association was transferred to the homeowners after owner occupancy exceeded 75% in the first three (of four) developments - Quail Pond, the Park at Belle Terra and the Lakes of Belle Terra. Belle Terra''s first Board of Directors was elected at this meeting. | | March 29, 2005 | | | | Usage of Oakridge Dumpsters: Please do not use the construction dumpsters in the Reserve. This is a very expensive service for which Oakridge bears the cost. Your HOA dues covers the cost for your trash removal. | | January 10, 2005 | | | | Halloween/Fall Block Party: Beginning at 1PM, there will be a children's costume parade and food and drinks will be provided "potluck" style. | | October 31, 2004 |
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