April 2015 | Blackstone HOA | 678.710.6214
Volume 9, Issue 1
April
Newsletter
Blackstone HOA conducts first town hall of
2015.
On Sunday, March 15, Blackstone HOA held a phenomenal Town Hall Meeting which
Contents
focused on homeowners’ associations and related issues. The turnout for the meeting
was excellent and the participants were there to learn and share their stories in a
Special Interest Articles
collaborative manner. Board introduced current directors of the board and shared
Town hall in pictures
2
Taste of Blackstone
2
Volunteering opportunity
2
Message from the board
3
Zoning update
5
Cops Connect (JCPD)
6
financials standing. Neighborhood zoning, amenities and other issues were discussed in
this meeting
Board thanks 35 families who attended the meeting to share their stories. Board also
congratulates following three lucky winners Lalitha Venkataramani, Bhagya Prabhakar
and Rohit Chauhan who won door prizes of $25/- each sponsored by Kim Fulay.
Board and members noted the members interest in starting youth activities, pool party,
starting a book club, conducting clean up Blackstone day campaign, encouraging
Toastmaster club, revisit tennis amenities rules, supporting ALTA, and Health and
Wellness club.
Go-Green and Large Dumpster
Board is working with Advanced Disposal Services (ADS) group for switching covered
recycle bin. All homeowners will get a covered recycle bin replacing open container
soon and ADS delivering recycling carts Monday, April 6, and it expects to be delivered
by Wednesday, April 8.
Spring cleaning large dumpster will be in the amenities area between 3/30/15 to
4/6/15. Board advises members taking advantage of this spring cleaning drive. Board
also requests not leaving any items outside the dumpster. If this container gets full,
maintenance committee will consider asking for another one soon.
Highlights
Awards and achievements
4
2015 Budget
4
Littering
5
Board of Directors
5
2
Town hall in pictures
Taste of Blackstone in
May
Email has been sent out to sign up for a
dish and choose your preferred date.
Soliciting event sponsorship from local Entrepreneurs
This HOA is looking for sponsors for HOA’s next event. In return for sponsorship, sponsors get to
display their business information, hand-out business cards and talk to the neighbors about what they
do and how this can help the residents at the event. Please contact board at
[email protected] for more details if you are interested or have any questions.
Based on majority, a date will be confirmed
HOA is planning to do two newsletters per year. If you own a business, is a teacher, provider of any
at the end of April. Please sign-up and
services, part of a nonprofit organization, won any awards, share a recipe, your child has won any
come and meet your neighbors and share
awards, recognition or wants to write an essays or poems, please feel free to reach out to us at
your culture for a good cause. All proceeds
[email protected] to have it published in this newsletter.
from the event will be donated to the JCPD
(John’s Creek Police Dept).
Volunteer Opportunity
If you have a middle or high school child,
please encourage them to volunteer. They
will get Beta hours for their service and it is
a good way to give back to the community.
Blackstone Health and Wellness Committee
A few residents came together last year to start the Blackstone Health and Wellness Committee. The
goal of the committee is to increase awareness of and initiate activities that encourage healthy living
among residents. Committee members are currently leading walking groups each week on Saturdays
at 4.30 p.m. and Sundays at 7.30 a.m. The walks usually last about an hour and average about
10,000 steps (the recommended daily volume of steps to maintain a healthy lifestyle). We start at
Blackstone Club House and walk locally in the Shakerag/Bell Road area. Based on interest among
A lot of students did sign up during the
residents the Committee plans to hold other healthy lifestyle activities. If you would like to join the
Town hall Meeting. We will be emailing
walks or have questions please email one of the committee members listed below.
them to help us with the next event soon.

Nazeera Dawood [email protected]
Out of the volunteers who signed up, 6 will

Bina Philip [email protected]
be chosen for each event to be the

Sundari Meyyappan [email protected]
“Blackstone Messenger”. They will be

Nirmala [email protected]
coming around the neighborhood with

Charulatha Krishnasamy [email protected]
fliers or notices about an event or a

Bindu Damidi [email protected]
message from the HOA. Please be friendly
when they knock on your door to relay the
message.
Message from the Board
We advise residents who have not received their access key fobs to amenities
to contact board (Email: [email protected]). Please note that the
Dear homeowners and neighbors,
It is our pleasure to inform you the state of our association and our plans
for rest of this year. We are convinced that we have a great year ahead.
We want to share our thoughts with you in this newsletter. As the
members of Board, we believe in expressing our values and conducting our
operation transparently, in the best interest of whole association. And it is
very important to us to maintain the confidence and trust of the
association members. We like to spread some light on following issues that
are utmost important to the association and our homeowners.
Entrance monument and beautification
amenities access tags will be issued to homeowners only. Tenants need to
contact their landlords for the key fobs. If the landlords have not received
their fobs then tenants may ask their landlords to contact board. Please help
ensure the safety and security of our amenities by ensuring all gates locked
after you enter into and exit from the amenities areas. The entire amenities
area is monitored round-the-clock basis using surveillance cameras. The
corner of Blackstone Way and Cavendish place is also monitored along with
entrance and exits. Signs are posted accordingly to keep unauthorized
elements out of our community.
We are continuously striving to keep our amenities in the best possible
condition so that they are at members’ service when they need them and are
Our entrance monument including fountains have been built to ensure
safe to use them. Tennis courts were resurfaced in the past year at a cost over
that our neighborhood is one of best and well-kept neighborhoods. Onus
$33,000 and they are in the best condition. Please help reduce the
now is on us to keep that monument is maintained well. Board is taking
maintenance costs of the amenities by discouraging the use of our amenities
utmost care in maintaining our amenities and entrance monuments while
by non-residents.
keeping our cost under control. Board has authorized repair, replacing
motors in the past year and has also installed timers to limit the hours
these pumps run. With this we were able reduce utility cost considerably
We hope you all appreciate this spectacular monument and recognize the
volunteers and board members’ (both current and previous) efforts.
Architectural Guidelines and Restrictions
Structural and ornamental modifications to an individual home and
property affect all members of the community. Design review affords the
members of the community an opportunity to ensure that the standards
of quality to which the community was built are properly maintained.
Quality of life for all residents is improved when a tranquil, civil, and fair
design review process is implemented. Additionally, a conservative
approach to architectural modification within the community will
ultimately preserve a positive reputation of the neighborhood within the
real estate marketplace; which in turn directly affects our ability to sell our
homes at the highest possible price. With this, as members of the board
we request you to follow the rules and regulations, mentioned in our
covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs). This CC&Rs cover the
exterior appearance of each residence with the goal to create a uniform
environment. We request you to submit your architecture modification
request to architecture committee for its review prior to start of the work.
We also encourage you joining these committees and helping in improving
and maintaining higher standards of this community. Additionally, board
requests you paying close attention in keeping your property clean and
well maintained. Furthermore, board has been working with Advanced
Driving and Speed limits in the neighborhood
We are continuing to observe that some residents are speeding through the
neighborhood. We, as member of the board, request residents to be extra
mindful of safety and to observe and to follow the posted speed limits since
children could be in the area. We also request you to be extra cautious and
turn on your car headlights if you are driving in the morning school bus times.
We, as parents need to advise or remind our kids to play in safe places, not in
the streets. Additionally, with increased police patrolling in the neighborhood,
police presence can be observed and hence we remind you that there is an
increased chance of speeding citations and penalty levied by the city of Johns
Creek for traffic violations
Volunteering in the community
As you know, this HOA board is comprised of five of us as directors and we
need your help in arranging and conducting a number of activities in the days
ahead, in addition to serving in various advisory committees. We hope you will
make time to volunteer for making this a better community. Please contact
the board and let us know your availability.
HOA Assessments
Please be note that all HOA dues are due by January month and any
assessments not paid in full by February 15th is deemed delinquent. There
may be penalties levied to those accounts that are not paid in full by the
deadline. Please check your account and contact our community management
representative should you need any clarification in this regard.
Disposal Services to providing a bigger and closed recycle bins without any
As we just started enjoying pleasant temperatures of the southern spring, we
incremental cost. In so doing, we believe homeowners can prevent any
hope you all will enjoy and utilize amenities. We also hope that safety and
trash spilling over to the street.
security situation will also improve due to our continued effort. We hope to
Amenities Access
Access to our common amenities has been secured with digital keys aka
Key FOBs. This restricted access implementation was necessary to prevent
unauthorized access and use by non-residents and limit the access to the
residents of good standing. This also helps our amenities management
managing the clubhouse reservations better. The clubhouse still needs to
be reserved in advance and is being rented on a fee basis, the fee collected
in this covers cleaning costs and other regular maintenance costs.
have a better and safer neighborhood. With is, we think together we can
ensure that this is a neighborhood that is clean, safe, friendly, and a place
where all of us want to live.
Thank you very much
Board of Directors, Blackstone HOA
4
2015 Budget snapshot: Expense allocation
Awards
Some of our Blackstone students participated
in the Toshiba/NSTA Exploravision Program at
Northview High School. Two out of the three
students that were part of the Regional
winning team are sophomores from
Blackstone. Jasmine Gao and Sally Pan, their
topic was “External Microbial Cleansing
Device”. Two other freshman students from
Blackstone got honorable mention. They are
Suma Yarabarla for “Internal Beta Cell
Swim Lessons: 678-907-3101



6 years of competitive swimming, 4 years of swim
instruction
State Championships Semi-Finalist & Finalist
GPRA State Championships Finalist, 8th in the State
Regulator and Meena Chetty for Obesity
Enzyme Patch.
Congratulations to our future
scientists!!!
Littering:
5
Blackstone HOA
1100 Northmeadow Pkwy., Suite 114
Roswell, GA 30076
678.710.6214
[email protected]
Find us on the Web:
http://www.blackstonehoa.com
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Blackstone HOA
The code of ordinances for Fulton County provides that animal excrement must be properly disposed
because it constitutes a nuisance. Additionally, Sec. 34-365 provides that any person who violates any
provisions of the nuisance code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. O.C.G.A. 17- 10-3 provides
that every crime declared to be a misdemeanor shall be punished either by a fine not exceeding
$1,000.00 or by confinement in the county or other jail not to exceed 60 days or both. The Board has
received several complaints of pet excrements being left behind by pet owners around the community
and in the amenities area. Violators will be reported with video evidence hence forth. Keep your
community clean.
trashcans placed outside tennis courts and hence help keeping our amenities clean
Zoning update: Action needed
Providence Group is building new neighborhood in the east side of Blackstone, combining two pieces of
land between Blackstone and Jaden Woods neighborhoods. The Builder is planning on building around
33 homes a 9 acre land. Blackstone board has expressed concerns specifically related to density in both
face-to-face meetings with builder and in the hearing meeting held on 03/05/2015. Board believes that
these high density neighborhood will add to the traffic that is already heavy and our schools will grow
overcrowded and the buildings may clash with existing neighborhoods. Zoning committee will create an
online petition soon so that all homeowners can participate in the process. Board urges all concerned
homeowners to let the city planners and the builder know your concerns.
Directors of the Board
Inside
Story
Headline
 Venkat
Kuppusamy,




President
Kim Fulay, Vice President
Aluri Rao, Vice President
Ravi Kayarthodi, Treasurer
Sundari Chetty, Secretary
Critical dates related to this zoning:

Providence group likely to post signs on 04/14/2015

City planning commission likely to meet that will review this request: 05/05/2015

Providence group is planning to meet with Mayor and council: 05/11/2015
Reserving Tennis Courts
Please use online reservation system
for guaranteed tennis court
availability.

Resister and update your contact
information on our website
http://blackstoneHOA.com
News Item
Copyright: Blackstone Home Owners Association
Communication from Johns Creek Police Department (JCPD)
With Fulton County Schools Spring Break scheduled for April 6-10, be sure to think about
home protection while you plan your family getaway.
With no one at home for extended periods of time, bad guys can help themselves to things
you worked hard for. So take a few minutes to foil the burglars and thieves, and make sure
they can't take advantage of your absence.
Here are some tips to make sure you have nothing but good memories about your
vacation trip.
 The simplest way to help keep your home safe is to ask a friend or neighbor to keep
an eye on your house while you're away. Give them your contact information and a
copy of your itinerary. And if you tell two people you're going on vacation, make sure
they know about each other.
 Wait until you get home to tell the world what a great time you had traveling. Bad
guys use social media, too, and you may know some. And if you don't, your friends
might. Also, tailor your voice mail to just say you can't come to the phone right now.
 To make it look like you're home, buy a light switch timer that turns your lights on
and off according to a schedule.
 Nothing says "Not home!" like a week's worth of mail and newspapers. Notify the
post office and the newspaper subscription staff to hold your mail and newspapers
while you're gone. Or you can ask your nice friend to pick them up for you.
 Let Johns Creek Police know you will be out of town. We will schedule extra patrols to
come by your house and do a physical inspection to make sure nothing is out of the
ordinary.. It's free and we're glad to do it. You can sign up for Vacation Watch online
or by downloading our new app JCPD4ME available on iPhone and Android app
stores.
Stay safe and have a great Spring Break!
Officer M.D. Meberg; [email protected] 678-474-1587
Blackstone Resident
[Street address]
[Address 2]
Suwanee, GA 30024