Download the official Wintergreen covenants HERE (pdf)
DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, RESTRICTIONS, AFFIRMATIVE OBLIGATIONS AND CONDITIONS
AMENDED VALLEY RESIDENTIAL COVENANTS
March 12, 1986
For helpful guidelines regarding what requires ARB approval, go HERE.
In addition to the General Covenants, the following restrictions and covenants shall be applied to certain properties shown as Residential Areas on plats of Valley Subdivisions of Wintergreen recorded in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Nelson County, Virginia.
PART I - DEFINITIONS
The definitions of the terms "Association" or "Wintergreen", as defined in the General Covenants are specifically incorporated herein, by reference to the General Covenants described below.
"General Covenants" as used herein shall mean and refer to the "Declaration of Rights, Restrictions, Affirmative Obligations and Conditions Applicable To All Properties In Wintergreen" established by the Company on the 10th. Day of September, 1974, and which is recorded in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Nelson County, Virginia in deed book 137, at page 568.
"Valley Residential Areas" as used herein are defined as those certain parcels or tracts of land located in the Valley Village Area of Wintergreen intended for subdivision or subdivided into properties or lots intended for the construction of detached single family dwelling units which are subjected to these Revised Valley Residential Covenants.
The "Company" as used herein, shall mean Wintergreen Development, Inc., its successors and assigns.
PART Il - RESTRICTIONS
1. The approval of plans required under paragraph I of Part I of the General Covenants will not be granted unless the proposed house or structure will have the minimum space footage of enclosed dwelling space. Such minimum requirements for each lot will be the greater of 1400 square feet or that specified in each sales contract and stipulated in each deed. The term "enclosed dwelling area" as used in these minimum size requirements does not include garages, terraces, decks, open porches, and the like areas. The term does include, however, screened porches, if the roof of such porches forms an integral part of the roof line of the main dwelling or if they are on the ground floor of a two-story structure. All approvals required to be made by the Company under paragraph I of Part I of the General Covenants shall be based solely upon the Company's subjective esthetic and/or design requirements. Explicit objective standards are not established by these covenants because such standards would make it impossible to take full advantage of the individual characteristics of each lot, of on-going technological advances or of changing environmental considerations. All approvals made by the Company (unless a deemed approval as described in paragraph 20 below), shall be in writing and shall be effective when placed in the mail or hand delivered to the individual requesting the approval. The Company shall have the right to condition any approval required by paragraph I of Part I of the General Covenants upon the deposit of a reasonable surety of performance by the individual requesting such approval.
2. (a) All lots in said Residential Areas shall be used for residential purposes exclusively. The use of a portion of a dwelling on a lot as an office by the owner or tenants thereof shall be considered a residential use if such use does not create customer or client traffic to and from the lot.
(b) No enclosed structure, except as hereinafter provided shall be erected, altered, placed or permitted to remain on any lot other than:
(i) One detached single-family dwelling
(ii) One accessory building which may include a bathhouse, guest suite or incorporate a private garage.
(c) Neither shall any structure as described in paragraph 2b above nor shall any postal delivery box or any fence or similar enclosure be placed, erected, or altered without the prior approval by the Company of the siting, plans, design, color, texture, appearance and location thereof as provided under paragraph I of Part I of the General Covenants. The Company shall have the right to require that the siting of any enclosed structures or fence be staked out on the proposed location prior to granting its approval for the construction thereof.
(d) Each lot owner building a fence or similar enclosure covenants for himself and for his successors in interest to either maintain said fence or enclosure in good repair or to remove it and return the land over which said fence runs to the condition it was in prior to the construction of said fence.
(e) A guest suite or like facility without a kitchen may be included as part of the main dwelling or accessory building, but such suite may not be rented or leased except as part of the entire premises including the main dwelling.
(f) The provisions of this paragraph two (2) shall not prohibit the Company from using houses or other dwelling units as models or as a real estate sales office.
3. The exterior of all houses and other structures must be completed within one (1) year after the construction of same shall have commenced, except where such completion is impossible or would result in great hardship to the owner or builder due to strikes, fires, national emergency or natural calamities. Houses and other dwelling structures may not be temporarily or permanently occupied until a certificate of occupancy has been issued thereon by the Building Inspector. During the continuance of construction, the owner of the lot shall require the contractor to maintain the lot in a reasonably clean and uncluttered condition.
4. Each lot owner shall provide a screened area in which garbage receptacles, fuel tanks, water tanks or similar storage receptacles, electric and gas meters, air- conditioning equipment, well pumps, and other unsightly objects must be placed or stored in order to conceal them from view from the road and adjacent properties. Plans for such screened area delineating the size, design, texture, appearance and location must be approved by the Company prior to construction. Garbage receptacles and fuel tanks may be located outside of such screened area only if located underground. Clotheslines and drying yards shall not be placed on any lot at any time.
5. Each lot owner shall provide two (2) spaces for the parking of automobiles off streets prior to the occupancy of any building or structure constructed on said property in accordance with reasonable standards established by the Company. Each lot owner shall notify the Wintergreen Police Department not less than five (5) days in advance of any gathering at any lot at which more than five (5) automobiles not belonging to Wintergreen property owners or having Wintergreen parking stickers will be parked.
6. No mobile home, trailer, tent, or other similar temporary out building or structure shall be placed on any lot at any time, either temporarily or permanently. Boats and boat trailers may be maintained on a lot, but only within an enclosed or screened area approved by the Company such as that they are not visible from adjacent properties.
7. No structure of a temporary character shall be placed upon any lot at any time, provided, however, that this prohibition shall not apply to shelters or temporary structures used by the contractor during the construction of the main dwelling house, it being clearly understood that these latter temporary shelters may not, at any time, be used as residences or permitted to remain on the lot after completion of construction. The design and color of structures temporarily placed on a lot by a contractor shall be subject to reasonable aesthetic control by the Company.
8. No television antenna, satellite dish, radio receiver or sender or other similar device shall be attached to or installed on the exterior portion of any building or structure or on any lot except as following:
(a) The provisions of this paragraph shall not prohibit the Company or its assigns from installing equipment necessary for a cable television system, television translator and mobile radio systems or other similar systems within Wintergreen; and
(b) Should cable television services or TV Translator signal be unavailable and good television reception not be otherwise available, a lot owner may make written application to the Company for permission to install a conventional television antenna and such permission shall not be unreasonably withheld.
9. The utility and drainage easement reserved by the Company in paragraph eleven (11) of Part I of the General Covenants shall be located along any two (2) of the boundary lines of each lot in a Valley Residential Area provided, however, if a specific location of such easements is shown on the recorded subdivision plats, such specific easement location shall be in addition to the utility and drainage easements provided hereby.
10. No lot shall be subdivided, or its boundary lines changed, nor shall application for same be made to Nelson County, except with the written consent of the Company. However, the Company hereby expressly reserves to itself, its successors, or assigns, the right to re-plat any lot or lots owned by it and shown on the plat of any subdivision with Wintergreen in order to create a modified building lot or lots; and to take such other steps as are reasonably necessary to make such re- platted lot suitable and fit as a building site including, but not limited to, the relocation of easements, walkways, rights of way, private roads, bridges, parks, recreational facilities and other amenities to conform to the new boundaries of said re-platted lots, provided, however, no lot originally shown on a recorded plat shall be reduced to a size more than ten (10%) percent smaller than the smallest lot shown on the first plat of the affected subdivision section recorded in the public records.
The provisions of this paragraph shall not prohibit the combining of two (2) or more contiguous lots into one (1) larger lot. Following the combining of two (2) or more lots into one (1) larger lot, only the exterior boundary lines of the resulting larger lot shall be considered in the interpretation of these covenants.
11. No livestock, fowl or other animals may be kept or maintained on any lot except domestic cats, dogs and pet birds (except parrots) which may be kept in reasonable numbers as pets for the pleasure and use of the occupants, but not for any commercial use or purpose. No dog houses, pens or animal shelters of any kind shall be permitted on any lot. No animal shall be allowed to run loose upon the property or any lot.
12. Neither tree houses nor platforms of like kind or nature, nor shall any exterior child play structures be placed, constructed or maintained on any lot.
13. No permanently mounted through the wall or window mounted air- conditioning units shall be permitted to be installed in or maintained in any structure unless expressly approved in writing by the Company or its assigns.
14. No exterior loud speaker or other audio broadcasting system shall be erected, installed, maintained or operated on any lot unless such action shall have been approved by the Company or its assigns.
15. No structure, pool or other facility shall be constructed or maintained so that it shall be heated or cooled by an alternative energy source including, but not limited to, active or passive solar energy or by wind driven electrical generators, which shall involve the construction or erection of any separate structure or unusual architectural feature or features without the prior written approval of the Company.
16. No private golf carts, motorcycles, motor bikes or all ATV's (all terrain vehicles) shall be operated nor maintained on any lot or other property subjected to these covenants.
17. No tennis courts shall be constructed or maintained on any lot. Except as may be approved on a case by case basis by the Company, but in no instance shall they be lighted.
18. Access to a lot by a lot owner shall be obtained only from the adjacent right-of-way established by the Company for such purpose.
19. Each lot owner, by his purchase of the lot covered by these Amended Valley Covenants, thereby agrees to and supports the abandonment of State Route 634 to the Company or the Association, provided such road shall then be made a part of the Wintergreen road system as it is operated and maintained by the Wintergreen Property Owners Association.
20. In the event an approval shall be requested in a writing delivered to the Company or its designated representative for any item or action covered by these covenants, and the Company shall take no action on such request for a period of thirty (30) days following receipt of such request, such item or action shall be taken as approved by the Company.
PART III - ADDITIONAL LIMITATIONS
1. All covenants, restrictions, and affirmative obligations set forth in this Declaration shall run with the land and shall be binding on all parties and persons claiming under them specifically including, but not limited to, the successors and assigns, if any of the Company for a period of thirty (30) years from the execution date of this Declaration, after which time, all said covenants shall be automatically extended for successive periods of ten (10) years, unless an instrument signed by a majority of the then owners of property substantially affected by a change in covenants, has been recorded, agreeing to change said covenants in whole or in part. Unless the contrary shall be determined by a court of equity jurisdiction, "substantially affected" shall mean those properties in Wintergreen shown on (a) the plats showing the properties to be modified in permitted use by the change, and (b) the plats which subdivide the property immediately abutting the property shown on plats identified in the Realty records in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Nelson County, Virginia.
2. In the event of a violation or breach of any of the restrictions contained herein by any property owner, or agent of such owner, the owners of properties in the neighborhood or subdivision, or any of them, jointly or severally, shall have the right to proceed at law or in equity to compel compliance to the terms hereof or to prevent the violation or breach in any event. In addition to the foregoing, the Company and/or the Association shall have the right to proceed at law or in equity to compel compliance to the terms hereof or to prevent the violation or breach in any event. In addition to the foregoing, the Company and/or the Association shall have the right, whenever there shall have been built on any property in the subdivision any structure in violation of these restrictions, to enter upon such property where such violation exists and summarily abate or remove the same at the expense of the owner, if after thirty (30) days written notice of such violation it shall not have been corrected by the owner. Any such entry and abatement or removal shall not be deemed a trespass. The failure to enforce any rights, reservations, restrictions, or condition contained in this Declaration, regardless of how long such failure shall continue, shall not constitute a waiver of or a bar to such right to enforce.
3. The Company reserves in each instance the right to add additional restrictive covenants in respect to lands conveyed in the future in Wintergreen, or to limit therein the application of these covenants. The right to add additional restrictions or to limit the application of the covenants shall be reasonably exercised and shall materially affect only properties against which these covenants have not been imposed.
4. The Company reserves the right to assign in whole or in part to a subsequent developer of Wintergreen or to the Wintergreen Property Owners Association, Inc. its rights reserved in these covenants which include, but are not limited to, its right to grant approvals (or disapprovals), to establish rules and regulations, and all other rights reserved herein by the Company, including, but not limited to, the right to approve (or disapprove) plans, specifications, color, finish, plot plan and construction schedules. Following the assignment of such rights, the Assignee shall assume all of the Company's obligations which are incident thereto (if any) and the Company shall have no further obligations or liability with respect thereto.
The Assignment of such right or rights by the Company to an Assignee shall be made by written instrument which shall be recorded in said Clerk's Offices.
5. The Company shall not be liable to an owner or to any other person on account of any claim, liability, damage or expense suffered or incurred by or threatened against an owner or such other person arising out of or in any way relating to the subject matter of any reviews, acceptances, inspections, permissions, consents or required approvals which must be obtained from the Company whether given, granted or withheld.
6. Wintergreen Property Owners Association, Inc. has established and published certain covenants and land use restrictions affecting properties in Wintergreen. Said covenants are recorded in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Nelson County, Virginia in Deed Book 137, at Page 589 as amended by documents recorded in said Clerk's Office in Deed Book 147, at Page 269, at Deed Book 15 1, at Page 672, at Deed Book 169, at Page 508 and at Deed Book 223, at Page 474. Properties and owners of property subject to these Covenants shall also be subject to the provisions of the said covenants established by the Wintergreen Property Owners Association, Inc.
7. Severability. Should any covenant or restriction herein contained, or any Article, Section, Subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or term of this Declaration be declared to be void, invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, for any reason, by the adjudication of any court of other tribunal having jurisdiction over the parties hereto and the subject matter thereof, such judgment shall in no wise affect the other provisions hereof which are hereby declared to be severable and which shall remain in full force and effect.
WINTERGREEN DEVELOPMENT, INC.
By: Edward P. Spears
President
ATTEST: Stuart R. Sadler
STATE OF VIRGINIA
To-Wit:
COUNTY OF NELSON
Personally appeared Edward P. Spears and Stuart R. Sadler and acknowledged the same to be their free act and deed before me this 12th. day of March, 1986.
My commission expires: 1-20-87
LESLEY A. ROWE
Notary Republic
AFFIX
NOTARIAL
SEAL: