Single Family Property Covenants
Download the official Wintergreen covenants HERE (pdf)
DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, RESTRICTIONS, AFFIRMATIVE OBLIGATIONS AND CONDITIONS
SINGLE FAMILY COVENANTS
September 10, 1974
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 these properties shown as Single Family Areas on plats of sections of Wintergreen recorded in the Offices of the Clerks of the Circuit Court of Nelson and Augusta Counties, Virginia.
PART I - DEFINITIONS
The definitions of the terms "Association", "Wintergreen", "Company", or "the Company" as defined in the General Covenants are specifically incorporated herein, by reference.
"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 are to be recorded contemporaneously herewith in the Offices of the Clerks of the Circuit Court of Nelson and Augusta Counties, Virginia.
"Single Family Areas" as used herein is defined as all those parcels or tracts of land intended for subdivision or subdivided into properties or lots intended for the construction of detached single family dwelling units.
PART II - RESTRICTIONS
1. The approval of plans required under paragraph 1 of Part I of the General Covenants will not be granted unless the proposed house or structure will have the minimum square footage of enclosed dwelling space. Such minimum requirements for each lot will be the greater of 800 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.
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 tenant thereof shall be considered a residential use if such use does not create customer or client traffic to and from the lot. No structure, except as hereinafter provided shall be erected, altered, placed or permitted to remain on any lot other than one (1) detached single family dwelling and one (1) small one-story accessory building which may include a detached private garage, provided the use of such accessory building does not overcrowd the site and provided further, that such building is not used for any activity normally conducted as a business. Such accessory building may not be constructed prior to the construction of the main building.
(b) 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, and provided, however, that such suite would not result in overcrowding the lot.
(c) The provisions of this paragraph two (2) shall not prohibit the Company from using a house or other dwelling units as models.
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 Company. 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 or similar storage receptacles, electric and gas meters, air conditioning equipment, clotheslines, 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.
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.
6. No mobile home, trailer, tent, barn, or other similar 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 that they are not generally 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, radio receiver or sender or other similar device shall be attached to or installed on the exterior portion of any building or structure or any lot except as following:
(a) The provisions of this paragraph shall not prohibit the Company from installing equipment necessary for a master antenna system, Community Antenna Television (C.A.T.V.) and mobile radio systems or other similar systems within Wintergreen; and
(b) Should C.A.T.V. services 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 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 Single Family Area unless a different location of such easements is shown on recorded subdivision plats.
10. No lot shall be subdivided, or its boundary lines changed, nor shall application for same be made to Nelson County or Augusta 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 within 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.
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 Offices of the Clerks of the Circuit Court of Nelson and Augusta Counties, 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 these 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 obligation 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. Wintergreen Property Owners' Association, Inc., has established and published certain covenants and land use restrictions affecting properties in Wintergreen. Said covenants are to be recorded contemporaneously herewith in the Realty Records in the Offices of the Clerks of the Circuit Court of Nelson and Augusta Counties, Virginia. Properties and owners of property subject to these Covenants shall also be subject to the provisions of the said covenants established by Wintergreen Property Owners' Association, Inc.
6. 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 or other tribunal having jurisdiction over the parties hereto and the subject matter hereof, 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.
Dated this 10th day of September, 1974.
WINTERGREEN, a Virginia Limited Partnership, by CC&F Wintergreen, Inc., a Partner of and Sole Agent for the General Partner, Big Survey Properties, a Massachusetts General Partnership:
CC&F WINTERGREEN, INC. BY: GARY W. GREEN
Vice President
Attest: William S. Abbott Secretary
State of Massachusetts) ss.
County of Suffolk )
Personally appeared Gary W. Green and William S. Abbott and acknowledged the same to be their free act and deed, before me.
RUTH A. WHITE
NOTARY PUBLIC
My commission expires Sept. 27, 1979