Click here to view proposed Bylaws Attorney Recommendation

DECLARATION OF COVENANTS, RESERVATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS OF WHITE OAK BLUFF SUBDIVISION SECTION ONE

The Declarant as owner of White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One in order to assure development in accordance with a as attractive residential lots, to prevent nuisances, and to prevent the impairment of the attractiveness of the property in order to insure to each lot owner full enjoyment of his property both in use and in maintained and increased value thereof, hereby sets forth covenants, reservations and restrictions which shall run with the land and shall bind and inure to the benefit of the purchasers, their respective heirs, personal representatives, successors and assigns

The property to which the hereinafter mentioned covenants, reservations and restrictions shall apply is known as all of White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One, as shown on that plat of White Oak Bluff Subdivision prepared by J.P. McLean Engineering Associates, of record in Map Book 21, pages 88 and 88A, Carteret County Registry.

ARTICLE I

DEFINITIONS:
The following words or phrases, as used in this instrument and any amendment hereto, shall have the following meanings, unless the context shall prohibit such meaning:


1. Front lot line: The front lot line of all Lots shall be that side of the lot facing Bluff Road

2: Back lot line: The property line opposite the front lot line.

3: Single-family: A residential structure intended and constructed for collective use by one or more persons but excluding structures containing two or more separate areas each of which contains separate living, sleeping, bath and food preparation areas for occupancy by unrelated persons or groups of persons.

4:Association: White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One Owners Association, Inc.

5: Owner: The record owner, whether one or more persons or entities, of the fee simple title to any lot in the subdivision.

6: Declarant: James D. Guthrie, Harold R. Comer, Wayne D. Comer, Tony C. McNeill, John P. McLean and White Oak River Properties, Inc.

BUILDING USE:

Lots in White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One shall be used solely for residential purposes. Only single-family residences shall be allowed and only ONE (1) single-family residence shall be erected on any one lot. No commercial or business activity shall be permitted on any lot except that owners may maintain private offices within their homes provided such offices are not used for the purpose of serving the public, clients, patients, or customers. No business or professional signs may be erected within the subdivision.

This restriction shall not apply to those activities of the Declarant or its agents which are reasonably required in connection with its marketing activities, as long as unsold lots remain in the subdivision.

BUILDING RESTRICTIONS:

1. Set-back requirements: No part of any structure of any kind, excluding fences and driveways, shall be erected or permitted to remain on any lot which is located nearer to the front boundary line (front lot line) or nearer to the rear boundary line (back lot line) or nearer to any side boundary line (side lot line) than as set out on that plat of White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One, recorded in Map Book 21, pages 88 and 88A, Carteret County Registry.

No fence shall be erected on any lot which is located nearer to an adjoining road than the closet part of any residence which is located on said lot is located to said road.


2. Building requirements: All residences shall be located facing the front boundary (front lot line)

3: Building Size: All residences in White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One, excepting Lot Number One (1), Block "A", shall contain a minimum of 1,200 square feet of enclosed, heated area exclusive of decks, porches, garages and carports. The original residence on Lot Number One (1), Block "A" shall contain a minimum of 900 square feet of enclosed heated area, but should said original residence be destroyed or removed, then any subsequent residence shall contain a minimum of 1,200 square feet.

4: Height Limitations: No structure shall be erected or permitted to remain on any lot, any part of which (excepting chimneys or flue stacks, electronic antennae, or vent pipes) shall exceed two living stories or forty (40) feet in height measured from the lowest grade level of the building foundation or piers upon which the structure is erected.

5: All residences shall be built-in-place. No mobile homes (including double-wide mobile homes), or modular homes shall be placed, erected, or permitted to remain on any lot.

6: Period of Construction: The exterior of any house or addition to a house must be completed within twelve (12) months after construction is started, except where such completion is impossible or would result in great hardship to the owned due to fire, national emergency, natural calamity, or other factors outside of the control of the owner.

Within one (1) month of the completion of the exterior of any house or addition or alteration to a house, debris and waste material from construction must be removed from the site.

Lot Owners shall be insurers of their employees, contractors, subcontractors of their contractors, and material suppliers, to the Declarant and to the Owners for any damage to roads or to any other common facilities in the subdivision caused by the passage of vehicles and equipment over the roads in the subdivision, or by any other activity associated with construction on lots within the subdivision. In the event of such damage, the Declarant or Owners shall have the authority to repair such damage and assess the costs of such repairs to the lot owner.

7: Accessory structures: Only One (1) outbuilding not exceeding one and one-half ( 1 1/2) stories in height and containing not over 192 square feet of interior floor space and one (1) pumphouse not exceeding four (4) feet in height and containing not over twenty (20) square feet of floor space shall be located on any lot in addition to the residence located thereon.

8: Exterior Materials: No structure shall be constructed with an exterior covering of asbestos shingles or of concrete or of exposed concrete blocks.

9: Outside Lighting: Outside Illumination of any lot or dwelling shall be done by means of small incandescent lights. No metallic vapor, H.I.D., area lights, or other lights which cannot be restricted to the owners' residence or property shall be used.

GENERAL RESTRICTIONS:

1: No swine, cows, horses, goats, fowl or other livestock, or wild animals shall be kept or maintained on any lot; nor shall any dog kennels or other such projects involving the rearing, handling or care of any animals or birds in large numbers or commercially be conducted or maintained within the subdivision. Dogs, cats or other domestic animals generally considered as pets, shall be allowed so long as said animals are of a quiet and unoffensive nature.

2: No watercraft shall be kept on any lot except that watercraft of a size which may be lawfully transported by automobile trailer and recreational vehicles may be kept on the property, provided that there shall be no more than two (2) such per lot.

3: Boats, boat, trailers, travel trailers, motor homes, campers, and other recreational vehicles shall be stored within a garage or shall be so kept as to be inconspicuous from the access road.

4: No tents or barns or travel trailers, motor homes, campers, or similar vehicles be occupied as living quarters while on the property.

5: No advertising signs of any kind except "For Sale" or "For Rent" signs shall be permitted on any lot.

6: No lot in White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One may be subdivided so as to reduce its size. An owner may combine two (2) or more lots for the construction of a single residence.

7: Unimproved lots shall be kept free of trash, unsightly debris, and stored materials and vehicles.

8: No noxious or offensive activity shall be carried on upon any lot, nor shall anything be done thereon which may be or may become an annoyance or nuisance to the neighborhood.

9: All clothes lines or appliances of any type designed for the purpose of drying laundry, shall be erected and maintained at the rear of the dwelling on each lot, suitably screened from view.

EASEMENTS:

Each lot in White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One is burdened by and benefited by certain easements in perpetuity, running with the land, as follows:

1: The Declarant reserves an easement, or right-of-way which it may assign, over the front and back of each lot fifteen (15) feet in width and over each side ten )10) feet in width for telephones, electric light poles, wires, cables, and any other equipment necessary for the installation, use and maintenance of utilities, including water, electricity, telephone or drainage.

2: General utilities easements: In addition to the foregoing, each lot in White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One is subject to a general easement granted, or to be granted, by the Declarant to the furnishes of utilities to individual lots within the subdivision, for the purpose of providing utilities services to the individual lots.

3: Access road: The private access shown on Map Book 21, page 88A shall be maintained by the Declarant until title is transferred by the Association after which transfer it shall be maintained by the Association. All lots of White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One are granted a non-exclusive easement over said private access road for the purpose of ingress and egress to the "private park."

4: Rights of owners to use of private park: Each lot in White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One has associated with the ownership of said lot a non-exclusive right to use of the private parks. Said right may not be assigned or sublet by lot owners. Declarant reserves the right to grant a non-exclusive use of said private parks and of private access road to any heirs, successors or assigns for the use and benefit of future land owners of any of the area lying within the boundaries of AREA 4 as more particularly shown on that plat entitled "Survey Map Areas 3-3A & 4 Showing Property of MOWER LUMBER CO." of record in Map Book 7, page 85, Carteret County Registry. Declarant prior to transfer of title to the Association, and the Association after title is transferred, may, at its discretion, prescribe and enforce reasonable rules and regulations with respect to the use of said parks.

WHITE OAK BLUFF SUBDIVISION SECTION ONE OWNERS ASSOCIATION:

All purchasers of lots in White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One shall, and by their acceptance of deeds conveying such lots do, for themselves, their heirs, successors and assigns, agree to become members of the White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One Owners Association, Inc., a North Carolina non-profit corporation organized for the purposes set out in the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws thereof.

1. Responsibility of the Association: The Association shall assume responsibility for such functions as shall fall within the purposes for which it is chartered, including, but not by way of limitation, the following:

(a) Maintenance of the two private parks and the private access way as shown on the plat of White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One of record in Map Book 21, pages 88 and 88A, Carteret County Registry.

(b) Enforcement of the provisions of this Declaration.

The Association may receive title to and may dedicate or transfer title to any property to which it holds title, to any public agency of authority, provided such transfer is agree to by three-fourths (3/4) of the members of the Association.

2. Assessments:

(a) There shall be no assessments until January 1, 1990.

(b) Each owner of a lot or lots in White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One by acceptance of the deed thereto, whether or not it shall be expressed in such deed, is deemed to, and does thereby covenant and agree, on behalf of himself, his heirs, successors and assigns, to pay assessments to the Association for the expenses incurred in providing the services and in maintaining the properties which are the responsibility of the Association.

3. Voting rights: The Declarant shall elect the Directors of the Association until such time as 70% of the lots of White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One shall have been conveyed or until January 1, 1990, whichever first occurs. Thereafter, Directors shall be elected by the lot owners with all owners of lots in White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One being entitled to one (1) vote for each lot, as further provided in the Articles if Incorporation and the Bylaws of the White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One.

4. Lien of assessment: The assessments call for hereinabove, together with interest and costs of collection, including court costs and reasonable attorney fees, shall be a charge on the land and shall be a continuing lien upon the property against which each assessment is made. Each such assessment, together with interest, costs and reasonable attorney's fees, shall also be the personal obligation of the person who was the owner of such property at the time when the assessment became due. Personal obligation for delinquent assessments shall not pass to his successors in title unless expressly assumed by them.

Any assessment not paid within thirty (30) days after the due date shall bear interest from the due date at the highest rate allowed by law. The Association may bring an action at law against the owner of owners personally obligated to pay the same or may foreclose the lien against the property, and the Association is hereby granted power of sale to conduct said foreclosure. Any interest, costs and reasonable attorney's fees of the action of foreclosure shall be added to the amount of such assessment. Such foreclosure shall be conducted under the procedure prescribed by statute in North Carolina for sales under a power of sale. In addition to the remedies set out hereinabove, the Association acting by and through its Board of Directors may deny the right to use of any of the private parks to any lot owner whose assessment is not paid within thirty (30) days after the date upon which it is due.

5. Subordination of lien to mortgage: The liens provided for herein shall be subordinate to the lien of any mortgage, mortgages, deed of trust or deeds of trust. Sale or transfer of any lot shall not affect the assessment lien provided for in the preceding section. The sale or transfer of any lot which is subject to any mortgage or deed of trust, pursuant to a foreclosure thereof which became due prior to such sale or transfer, but shall not extinguish the personal liability of the owner at the time the assessment fell due. No such sale or transfer shall relieve such lot from liability for any assessment thereafter becoming die or from the lien thereof, but the liens provided for shall continue to be subordinate to the lien of any mortgage, mortgages, deed of trust or deeds of trust.

DURATION AND AMENDMENT:

All restrictions and covenants set forth in this Declaration shall run with the land and shall be binding on all parties and persons claiming under them for a period of twenty-five (25) years from the date of recording of the Declaration, after which these restrictions and covenants shall be automatically extended for additional periods of ten (10) years each.

This instrument may be amended at any time by an affirmative vote of sixty percent (60%) of the then owners of lots in White Oak Bluff Subdivision Section One.

ENFORCEMENT:

In the event of a violation or breach of any of the covenants and restrictions herein by any owner or agent thereof, the Declarant, the owners of other lots, jointly or severally, or the Board of Directors of the Association acting on behalf of such owner and owners, shall have the right to bring an action to compel compliance or to enjoin such violation or breach. In the event the enforcement action should result in a judgment in favor of the owner(s) bringing the same, or in favor of the Association, reasonable attorneys' fees shall be recovered in such action. The failure to enforce any right, reservation, restriction or condition contained in the Deed, or in these Restrictive Covenants, however long continued, shall not be deemed a waiver of the right to do so hereafter as to the same breach or as to a breach occurring prior or subsequent thereto and shall not bar or affect its enforcement.

SEVERABILITY:

The invalidation by any court of any restrictions or obligations contained in this Declaration shall in now way affect any other provisions hereof, which shall remain in full force and effect.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, the said parties, as Declarant, have hereunto individual set their hands and seals and White Oak River Properties, Inc., has caused this instrument to be signed in its name by its President and attested by its Secretary, with its corporate seal hereto affixed, and all by order of its Board of Directors duly and regularly given this the 26th day of November 1984.