Bay Country

Declaration Of Covenants, Restrictions

And Affirmative Obligations

 

 

WHEREAS, by Deed dated March 30, 1977 and recorded among the Land Records of Anne Arundel County, Maryland in Liber 2948, Page 850, BAY COUNTRY ESTATES PARTNERSHIP, hereinafter referred to as “Declarant”, is the owner of certain real property therein fully described;

 

WHEREAS, it is the intention of Declarant to impose certain covenants, restrictions and conditions with respect to the lots hereinafter described, said lots being a part of the tract of land described in the aforesaid deed. The lots which are the subject matter of this document are described as follows: Bay Country Subdivision, Plat 1 through Plat 14: Section 1 through Section 4.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, THIS DECLARATION WITNESSETH: That the Declarant, for itself, its successors, and assigns in consideration of the premises, and for the benefit of the owners from time to time of the property hereby affected, does hereby declare that all of the properties described above shall be held, sold and conveyed subject to the following covenants, restrictions, reservations, easements, liens, charges, conditions or other provisions contained herein which the owners thereof from time to time hereafter shall, by virtue of having accepted a deed thereto, be held to have covenanted on behalf of themselves, their heirs, successors and assigns to keep and observe; said covenants, restrictions, conditions and other provisions shall be construed as covenants running with the land.

 

ARTICLE I

 

1. Open Space and Recreation Areas. The open space and recreation areas designated on Plat One Through Plat Three of Section I, Bay Country, intended to be recorded among the Land Records of Anne Arundel County, has been deeded to the BAY COUNTRY ESTATES HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., a Civic Association which has been established for the community of Bay Country.

 

The above referred to Homeowners’ Association agrees that, in Accepting the conveyance of the open space and recreation areas shown on the above referenced plats, that they will assume all responsibilities for the improvement and maintenance of the open space and recreation areas.

 

Subdivision or resubdivision of the open space land designated herein is not permitted and development of the land is permitted only in according with the land uses indicated herewith.

 

(a) The use of this land is limited to parks, conservation, recreation, gardening, and similar purposes for the resident of said subdivision;

(b) This land may be used as a secondary septic tank location provided its location is approved by the Anne Arundel County Health Department.

 

2. Residential Use. Building lots, and each and every one thereof, are for single family residential purposes only. No building or structure intended for or adapted to business purposes, and no apartment house, double house, lodging house, rooming house, hospital, sanatorium or doctor’s office, or other multiple family dwelling shall be erected, placed, permitted or maintained on such premises, or on any part thereof. No improvement or structure whatever, except as provided in this paragraph and paragraph 13 hereof other than first class private dwelling house, patio walls, swimming pool, and customary structures, garage, carport, servants’ quarters or guest house may be be erected, placed or maintained on any lot in such premises.

 

3. Setback lines. No building, structure, fence, hedge, outbuilding, or appurtenance of any nature shall be locate closer than 30 feet from any lot or property line.

 

4. Architectural Control. No building, shelter, swimming pool, fence, other structures or improvements of any kind whatsoever (including walks, patios, driveways, and landscaping), shall be erected, placed, replaced, or altered, or any additions made to any building or structure unless construction and mechanical plans and specifications, including detail as to location and elevation on any or all of the above have been submitted to and approved by the Declarant, its successors or assigns. If the Declarant, its successors or assigns, fails to approve or disapprove in writing, within forty-five (45) days after such plans and specifications have been submitted to it, approval shall conclusively presumed to  have been given. Refusal of approval of plans, location or specifications may be based upon any ground, including purely aesthetic considerations, which in the sole and uncontrolled discretion of the Declarant, its successors or assigns, shall deem sufficient. One copy of all plans and specifications shall be furnished to and retained by the Declarant, its successors or assigns, as part of the corporate or community records.

 

5. Utility Lines and Radio and Television Antennas. All electrical service and telephone lines shall be placed underground and no outside electrical lines shall be placed overhead, but this restriction may be waived by the Declarant.  No exposed or exterior radio or television transmission or receiving antennas shall be erected, placed or maintained on any part of such premises, but this restriction may be waived by the Declarant. Any waiver of these restrictions shall not constitute waiver as to other lots or lines or antennas.

 

6. Occupancy. No private dwelling house erected upon any lot shall be occupied in any manner while in the course of construction, nor at any time prior to its being fully completed, as herein required. Nor shall any residence, when completed, be in any manner occupied until made to comply with the approved plans, the requirements herein, and all other covenants, conditions, reservations, and restrictions herein set forth. All construction shall be completed within six months from the start thereof, provided that the Declarant may extend such time when in his opinion conditions warrant such extension. No temporary house, temporary dwelling, temporary garage, temporary outbuilding, trailer home, or other temporary structures hall be placed or erected upon any lot unless approved by the Declarant. Rental of any guest house is prohibited, the occupancy thereof being limited to either guests  or servants.

 

7 . Letter and Delivery Boxes. The Declarant shall determine the location, color, size, design, lettering, and all   other particulars of all mail or paper delivery boxes, and   standards and brackets and name signs for such boxes in order   that the area be strictly uniform in appearance with respect hereto.

 

8. Drainage. Drainageways shall conform to the requirements of all lawful public authorities, including the County Engineer of Anne Arundel County, State of Maryland, to the full extent of the authority given him by law.

 

9. Commercial Vehicles. No commercial vehicles, construction or like equipment or mobile or stationary trailers of any kind shall be permitted on any lot of the subdivision unless first approved by the Declarant and kept in a garage completely enclosed.

 

10. Division of Lots. No lot shall be resubdivided except as approved by the Declarant.

 

11. Grades and Slopes. There is expressly reserved unto the Declarant, its successors or assigns the sole and exclusive right to establish grades and slopes (including surface and subsurface drainage) on all lots and to fix the grade at which any dwelling or other structure shall hereafter be erected, or placed thereon so that the same shall conform to a general plan, subject only to compliance with the regulations of public authorities having control thereof, if any.

 

12. Erosion Control and Storage of Building Materials. At no time shall any lot or parcel be stripped or its topsoil, trees or allowed to go to waste away by being neglected, excavated, or having refuse or trash thrown, dropped or dumped upon it. No lumber, brick, stone, cinder block, concrete block or other materials used for building purposes shall be stored upon any lot more than a reasonable time for the construction in which they are to be used to be completed.

 

13. Fences and Walls. No fences or walls shall be erected, placed or altered on any residential lot unless approved by the Declarant, its successors or assigns. Fences in front of dwellings are not to be permitted except that decorative walls and gates, screening fences, refuse storage receptacles, and retaining walls may be permitted upon express written consent of the Declarant, its successors or assigns.

 

14. Signs. No commercial sign of any kind shall be displayed to public view on any dwelling lot except that signs not exceeding one (1) square foot in size may be displayed by physicians or members of other learned professions upon the written consent of the Declarant, its successors or assigns. Signs for the purpose of identifying the owner or occupant by name and street address may be permitted, but such signs are to be approved by the Declarant, its successors or assigns. This provision does not apply to signs used to advertise a property during the initial construction and subsequent sales period.

 

15. Prohibition of Noxious Activities and Limitations On Keeping Animals. No noxious or offensive activity shall be carried on upon any residential lot, nor shall anything be done thereon tending to cause embarrassment, discomfort, annoyance or nuisance to the neighborhood. There shall not be kept or maintained devices, things, or animals, specifically including, but not limited to, fowl, pigeons, cows, swine, goats, other livestock or poultry. However, this restriction shall not prevent the keeping of not more than two of each of any of the following: dogs, cats or birds as household pets provided that same are not bred for commercial purposes, nor shall there be allowed any other thing of any sort whose normal activities or existence is in any way noxious, dangerous, unsightly, odoriferous, noisy, unpleasant, or of a nature as may diminish or destroy the enjoyment of other property in the neighborhood by the owners thereof. Dogs or other pets shall not be permitted to range the neighborhood.

 

16. Hunting and Trapping.  Hunting and trapping is expressly forbidden on any part of the land known as Bay Country.

 

17. Completion of Construction. The exterior of all Dwellings and other structures must be completed within one (1) year after the construction of same has commenced, except where such time for completion would result in great hardship to the owner or building due to strikes, fires, national emergency, or natural calamities.

 

18. Fuel Tanks and Storage Receptacles. No fuel tanks or any similar storage receptacles may be exposed to view or installed except within the main dwelling house, within an accessory building, within a solidly screened or enclosed area, or buried underground.

 

ARTICLE II   1. 

 

1. Enforcement. The association, or any owner, shall have the right to enforce, by any proceeding at law or in equity, all restrictions, conditions, covenant reservations, liens, charges now or hereafter imposed by the provision of this Declaration.
2. Severability. Invalidation of any one of these  covenants or restrictions by judgment or court order shall  in no way affect any other provisions which shall remain in  full force and effect.
3. Homeowners’ Association. For the purpose of  maintaining roads, traffic control, general planting within  roadway areas and all common community services of every kind  and nature required or desired within the subdivision for the  general use and benefit of all lot owners, each and every lot  owner in accepting a deed or contract for any lot in such  premises, agrees to and shall be a member of and be subject to  the obligations and duly enacted By‑Laws and rules of the Bay  Country Estates Homeowners’ Association, a nonprofit corporation.
4. Costs of Counsel. In the event the Declarant,  its successors or assigns, prosecute any proceeding in law or  in equity against an owner ‘lor owners of lots violating or attempting to violate any covenants as herein contained, all  costs incurred in such enforcement, including a reasonable  fee for counsel, shall be paid by the owner or owners of such  lot or lots and the Declarant shall have a lien upon such lot  or lots to secure payment of all such accounts.
5. Effect of Breach on Mortgages. The breach of  any of the foregoing covenants, conditions, reservations or restrictions, shall not defeat or render invalid the lien of any mortgage or deed of trust made in good faith for value  as to any lot or lots or portions of lots in such premises,  but these covenants, conditions, reservations, and restrictions shall be binding upon and effective against any such mortgagee  or trustee or owner thereof, whose title thereto whose  grantor’s title is or was acquired by foreclosure, trustee’s  sale, or otherwise.
6. Effect of Zoning. Such premises shall be subject  to any and all rights and privileges which Anne Arundel County, Maryland, may have acquired through dedication or the filing or recording of maps or plats of such premises, as authorized by law, and provided, further, that no covenants, conditions, reservations, or restrictions, or acts performed shall be in conflict with any County Zoning Ordinace or Law.
7. Amendment. The covenants and restrictions of this Declaration shall run with and bind the land, for a term of  twenty (20) years from the date this Declaration is recorded  after which time they shall be automatically extended for successive periods of ten (10) years. This Declaration may be amended during the first twenty (20) years by an instrument  signed by the owners of not less than ninety percent (90%) of  the lots in the community, and thereafter, by an instrument  signed by the owners of at least seventy‑five percent (750) of the lots in the community. Any such amendment must be recorded.
8. Prosecution of Covenant Violations. If the parties hereto, or any of them, their successors or assigns, shall  violate or attempt to violate any of the covenants herein, it shall be lawful for the Declarant, its successors or assigns, or  any other person or persons owning residential lots with like covenants to prosecute any proceeding at law or in equity  against the person or persons violating or attempting to violate  any such covenants to either prevent him, or them, from so doing  and/or to recover damages for such violation.
9. Failure to Enforce Covenants Not a Waiver. Failure  to enforce any right, reservation, restriction, or condition contained in this Declaration, however long continued, shall not  be deemed a waiver of the right to do so thereafter as to the  same breach, or as to a breach occurring prior or subsequent  thereto and shall not bar or affect its enforcement.
10. Developer’s Right to change or Modify Covenants.  The Declarant, for itself, its successors or assigns, hereby, reserves the right in its absolute discretion to annul, waive, change, or modify any of the restrictions, conditions or  covenants contained herein or as amended, except that such  rights shall not effect the rights of the Homeowners’  Association as such rights may pertain to any open space and  recreation area.
11. Rights and Powers Reserved. The right and powers reserved or given to the Declarant by virtue of this Declaration may be assigned, in whole or in part, to any one or more corporations, associations or committees that will agree to assume such rights, powers, duties and obligations, and carry out and perform the same. Any such assignment or transfer shall be made by appropriate instrument in writing in which the assignee or transferee shall join for the purpose of evidencing its acceptance of such rights and powers; and such assignee or transferee shall thereupon have all the rights and powers so assigned or transferred, provided such written instrument be duly recorded among the Land Records of Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

 

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, being the Declarant herein, has hereunto set its hand and seal this 19th day of June, 1979.

Attest: BAY COUNTRY ESTATES PARTNERSHIP

[Signatures]

STATE OF MARYLAND )

MONTGOMERY COUNTY )

I HEREBY CERTIFY that on this 19th day of June, 1979, before me, the subscriber, a Notary Public in and for the state and county aforesaid, personally appeared F. RICHARD STARK, ROLANDO DE AVILA and HUMBERTO ESPADA, partners of BAY COUNTRY ESTATES PARTNERSHIP, and executed in foregoing Deed for the purposes therein contained.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and notarial seal.

[Signature]

Notary Public

My Commission Expires July 1, 1982.