2024 June Newsletter

The newsletter is being distributed by Block Captains this week (August 18-25).  The block captain should deliver it in person or it will be mailed next week.

There is a new proxy form available to help reach a quorum for the upcoming general meetings.

The PDF of the Newsletter is here or you can view it below.

President's Welcome Letter

Many thanks to all of our Belvedere Plantation Section 1 and 2 homeowners for placing your trust in me to lead our Belvedere Property Owners Association in 2024. I believe that serving as your BPOA Vice President for the past two and a half years has prepared me well for this honor, and I welcome this opportunity to help our community continue to thrive. Please join me in congratulating our three newly elected officers: Vice President Robert Ayers, Secretary Carla Harvey, and Treasurer Karen Redmond. We should all be encouraged to see new volunteers stepping up to take responsibility for our BPOA as our exemplary volunteerism is the key to how we have kept our dues the lowest of any HOA in Hampstead and because new perspectives are so essential to any viable organization.

A.   We are focused on three missions: (1) sense of community; (2) quality of life; and (3) property values. Everything we do will be tied to at least one of these goals.

B.  We have passed new by-laws which you can find on our website.

C.  Your new officers have voted to pursue filing liens against our homeowners who are delinquent in paying their BPOA annual dues. This may be a long, costly, and complex process, but all felt that it is only fair to the majority who pay their $45/year on time.

D. Your new officers have voted to pursue reviewing our Declaration of Restrictive Covenants. These are essential to maintaining our property values and quality of life. We last updated them in 2006 following a 2-year approval process. This may well also be a long, costly, and complex process, but many have asked for an update. Please feel free to volunteer to help or contact a committee member with your input. The members are Rebecca Spaven, Kent Ottaway, Jeff Barnett, Steve Sholtis, and me.

E.  We are always seeking more VOLUNTEERS for our many functions and activities: Block Captains for our dozen blocks in which our 17 captains have had to double up to cover every home; our several committees working on our covenants, dues liens, beautification, Adopt-a-Highway, Roads, doggie bag stations, meeting signs, architectural reviews, and social events.

F.   Additionally, I would like to find a NC master gardener in our midst who could lead a gardening committee to post helpful regional tips in our newsletters and possibly organize a best garden competition.

G.  Let me close by inviting one and all to join us for our monthly Board social hour and meeting. These are normally held in my home at 418 Lakeview Drive on the 3rd Tuesday of every month. We serve hors d’oeuvres and drinks at 6:00 PM and start the Board meeting at 7:00 PM. We are pretty good about adjourning the meeting by 8:00 PM.

Please come join us in one of our many activities!

Respectfully,

Christian Klinefelter

Meetings

Our general membership meetings will take place at the Harbour Village Marina or another designated location. We only schedule two general meetings each year. The next meeting is scheduled for Saturday October 5, 2024 at 10am with a social hour before (9am). The April 2025 meeting will be announced in the December billing and newsletter. Signs will be posted at South Belvedere, Hickory and the Highway 17 front entrance about two (2) weeks prior to any meeting. 

The BPOA Board will continue to meet monthly.  If members request a special topic meeting, the Board will determine where and when and announce the meeting at least 15 days prior to the meeting.

Election Results

Board Officers

Your New 2024 Board Officers:

President                                                                                         Christian Klinefelter

Vice President                                                                                    Robert Ayers

Secretary                                                                                            Carla Harvey

Treasurer                                                                                         Karen Redmond

Standing Committees & Other Volunteers

Beautification Committee (Entrance maintenance)                                Cal DeMaio

Architectural Review and Covenants                                                    Kent Ottaway

Roads (Traffic, Potholes, Signs)                                                           Dave Hughes

Welcome Committee                                                                           John Redmond

Adopt a Highway (Roadside Cleanup) & Pet Stations                            Len Barber

Social Media (Facebook)                                                                     Michele Nieber

Website Terry Hamberger

Covenant Reminders

The Covenants for Belvedere Sections 1 & 2 contain the rules that keep ours an attractive, desirable neighborhood and maintain property values.  Both newcomers and existing home owners should abide by these rules, maintain their property, and respect their neighbors.  The covenants apply equally to residents.  Abiding by the covenants will make Belvedere a much better place for all. The Covenants can be found on our website www.BPOA-Hampstead.org. 

A few big reminders:

1) No extended vehicular parking on any road, including the easement or shoulder, is permitted in Belvedere Plantation;

2) Boats and utility trailers must be parked even with or behind a residence.  Boats and trailers may not be parked curbside;

3) Any construction of fences, sheds, homes, etc. must comply with the covenants. Please submit a plan to the Architectural Review Committee before starting your project;

4) Please be considerate of your neighbors when parking RVs on your property.

New BPOA Members

Please take a moment to welcome your new neighbors.  The Welcome Committee[WB1]  (short handed) is trying to reach out as quickly as they can but having a friendly face next door is always welcome.

Standard Reports

Welcome Committee (Block Captains)

Efforts are well underway to make the Block Captains Committee a success. Many of the BCs canvassed the neighborhood for proxies and will be delivering this newsletter too. It is an effort to meet our neighbors and to reduce the cost of postage. Please use your BC as a way to reach out to the Board.

Treasurer Report

All of our official documents are available on the new website, BPOA-Hampstead.org. There is a section titled Treasurer Reports under the Important Information menu.

This is our second year of late fee assessments.  We started assessing late fees per our Bylaws resulting in over $800.00 collected for late fee charges this spring. With the Delinquent Dues Recovery efforts underway, we expect to recover additional funds in an effort to ensure everyone pays their fair share. 

Delinquent Dues

Presently the Association has 56 outstanding invoices from the December 2023 billing for dues payable by January 31, 2024.  There is a late fee, the greater of $20 or 10% of the total bill due assessed on bills not paid by February 1, 2024.  These invoices range from $20 to $1300 ( owner has 5 lots.)

For residents who are not paying their bill for whatever personal reason and the bill is over $200 the Board has decided to pursue collections via the use of liens.  Residents will be notified of the amount due and be given 15 days to reply to the Board regarding payment.  If no response is forthcoming or no payment is received then an attorney will be engaged to file a lien with the Pender County court system. The property owner will not only owe the HOA fees due but will also be held responsible for all fees associated with the collection effort.

This process is time consuming and expensive but regrettably it has come to this.  We must all pay our fair share in keeping the community running. 

As of this newsletter, 56 members are not up to date on their dues out of our total membership of 325 members. The Board will now moving forward with the formal  procedures set forth in the BPOA governing documents. The policies and procedures along with the governing documents from North Carolina, Declaration of Restrictions and Bylaws are available on the website. Long term delinquency will result in liens on those members as a last resort.

Adopt a Highway

Our Association was awarded a 10 Year Participation plaque and medallions for our signs last fall from DOT in recognition for our efforts to keep the roadway clean on Country Club Drive. The May meeting/collection was again a success.  Check the Facebook page and the website for the next date.

Thank you to the many volunteers!

Beautification

There are 3 cemeteries located within the Belvedere Plantation subdivision.  As good neighbors some of our members have been working with Ironclad Golf Course and a member of the Nixon family to tidy up the cemeteries. The cemeteries are very old and we, the Board, felt a sense of duty to keep them cleaned up and show the families of the deceased some neighborly respect.

Social Media Page for Belvedere Plantation Members 

In 2022, a new social media page was established on FaceBook/META to provide information to all eligible Belvedere Plantation residents in Sections 1 and 2. This Facebook page is private and only open to BPOA members.

To access the page:

1. Log into Facebook and type in “Belvedere Property Owners Association, Sections 1 and 2” in the SEARCH box

2. Click on the JOIN button

3. Please enter your address here

4. Receive acceptance notification.

Initiatives

Online Dues Payment

Members requested online bill payment options and we’ve delivered. Seven members paid their dues using PayPal.  Yeah!! Since many of our members use personal checks or online bank bill pay, they don’t need to change anything. For those interested in online payment, we’ve chosen PayPal for the online bill payment method. The member doesn’t need to register with PayPal for non-PayPal type payments. For members using this service there will be a small transaction fee of $5.00, or 5% of the amount due whichever is greater.

For 2025 dues (payable January 31, 2025), users will need to request to use the online payment if they so desire. We’ll create the PayPal invoice, they’ll get the link to pay and we’ll receive the payment. As we improve our HOA management software, we are looking to offer user preferences for all communications including online bill payment. If you want more information, the new website Important Information -> Initiatives -> Online Dues Payment has more details.

Google Workspace for Business

In the past, we had to create new email accounts for the new Board members and then try to capture our communications history as we went. With Google Workspace, we’ll have plenty of storage, share knowledge, smooth officer transitions and increase efficiency as we move forward. An organization as old as ours has a LOT of history. The archives will move to the website over time to make the information available for all the members of the BPOA. We’re trying to bring back the memories, and improve our community knowledge. 

Website Improvements

The new and improved website, www.BPOA-Hampstead.org is up and working. We’re working hard to give you the tools you need to stay informed, to request closing documents, to get approval for property changes (fence, pool, shed, etc) and more.  We want to increase collaboration of our communications to and from you. If you have questions, we plan to have answers for you. Of course, you can connect on Facebook and our website, with our officers, block captains, or other members. Please help us upgrade the site and better the community. 

Proxy processing

With so many members sending in voting proxies for the Fall General meeting continuance we were able to hold the meeting and conduct business. Thank you to the members who sent in their proxies and to the members who attended the meeting! Thank you also to the volunteers who canvased the neighborhood to collect the proxies!

THIS JUST IN…..

VP Replacement

The newly elected Vice President, Robert Ayers,  resigned because they are selling their home and leaving our community.  John Redmond volunteered to serve out the remainder of the term (March 1, 2025), and on 16 July the Board appointed him as Robert’s replacement.

The new development (actually it's been on the drawing board for years) Hawksbill Cove is pushing forward with the plan to develop the parcel of land bordering the backside of homes along S Belvedere Dr.  The entrance to Hawksbill Cove is Valinza Plantation Dr. off of Country Club Drive.  They are proposing another entrance connecting to SoundView Dr. at S. Belvedere Dr.  Please see our website, BPOA-Hampstead.org for more information.  

Political Signs

Per our Covenants political signs are allowed however this is the rule:

2. THIS DOCUMENT REGULATES OR PROHIBITS THE DISPLAY OF POLITICAL SIGNS. Even when display of a political sign is permitted the association may prohibit the display of political signs earlier than 45 days before the day of election and later than 7 days after an election and may regulate the size and number of political signs that may be placed on an owners property if the association's regulation is no more restrictive than any applicable city, town, county ordinance that regulates the size and number of political signs on owners property. If the local government in which the property is located does not regulate the size and number of political signs on owners' property, the association shall permit at least one political sign with the maximum dimensions of 24 inches by 24 inches on an owners property. For the purposes of this document, "political sign" means a sign that attempts to influence the outcome of an election, including supporting or opposing an issue on the election ballot. This shall apply to owners of property who display political signs on property owned exclusively by them and does not apply to common areas, easements, rights-of-way or other areas owned by others.