Dear Bluefields Neighbors, I would like to personally thank the 2014 BHA Officers and Board Members (Peter Beare, Maggie Sidlinger, Glenda Reagan, Carla Cannon, Megan Deardorff, and John Doak) for their countless hours of volunteering and devotion to Bluefields. The teamwork displayed throughout the past year and a half is amazing. We have progress from only having a Vice-President, Treasurer, and 3 of 6 Board member seats filled to having a full slate of Officers and Board Members for the 2015 slate. Thank you to all of you who agreed to serve another year due to lack of volunteers and participation prior to the AGM. Your intentions to serve your neighborhood are very appreciated!

Please join us for The Bluefields Homeowners Association Annual General Meeting that is scheduled for Tuesday November 18, 2014 at Fifty Forward commencing at 6:00 p.m. The Board of Directors are appointed annually (at the Annual General Meeting) and serve for 1 year.  

Historic Bluefields Smartgrowth Committee invites you to information sessions on:

Metropolitan Historic/Conservation Zoning – Bluefields the NEXT 100 years!

We want your ideas!! This is strictly an information sharing seminar and we encourage you to attend!

We had a great attendance for our first Historic Metropolitan Historic/Conservation Zoning Session with lots of information provided by Robin Zeigler of the Historic Zoning Commission with plenty of questions from the floor....

Here are just a few!

• Why does a neighborhood choose to have an Historic/Conservative Overlay?
• Do you have to undo any previous architcuture?
• What is the difference between Historic National register & Historic Overlay?
• If a developer comes in and starts building can we stop then if we have applied for conservative overlay?
• Does historic overlay dictate usage of a property?
• Can you go to higher courts to fight a historic commission ruling?
• Bluefields Square - how and does it fit in?
• How will the neighborhood decide whether they want this?
• Does it affect sidewalks and other construction around Bluefields including sidewalks?
• What are the details about the National Historic Register Grant that Bluefields has just been nominated for?

We have our final session coming up this Saturday morning - if you have questions - Robin has answers - please attend and get yourself educated on this very important process.

Information Session #2 Robin Zeigler Historic Zoning Commission
When: 9:00 AM, Saturday November 8th 2014
Where: Fifty Forward, 108 Donelson Pike

More Details Here

Many of you received a typed "newsletter" in the mail on Wednesday October 1st sent by a BHA board member. At our September 16 meeting, it was agreed that a board member would take on the responsibility of printing the E news from the website and distributing a paper copy to some of the neighbors who do not use email and internet. Today's copy was not approved by the BHA board before being mailed out to our residents. The BHA Board's intention was to extract items specifically posted on the website and put into a hard copy for those neighbors without internet access. It was NOT the BHA Boards intention for this information to be altered, editorialized, or anything else added without the Boards approval. There were a few inaccuracies.

This Saturday October 25th we appear to have a great day heading our way as the Historic Bluefields Smartgrowth Crew tackles the largest landscaping challenge in our beautiful neighborhood - the main entrance common space. We have attached our design drawings that have been provided by our great working partners in this project JVI Secret Gardens and at this stage based on our budget (continued fundraising efforts) we are looking to complete Phase I on Saturday morning (at least). Keep in mind this is the most expensive of all 3 triangles due to size of area but it also will have the largest impact on drivers on Bluefield Avenue.

What an amazing day we had at Historic Bluefields!! If you missed it I hope this blog gives me a chance to fill you in. Beautiful fall weather and amazing neighbors coming together again for another great outcome. To all of you driving by shouting "Thank you!" and " It looks amazing!" we appreciate your gratitude.

The Autumnal Equinox is just around the corner (September 22nd) and that means Fall Cleanup will soon be under way... It's time to weed those beds, feed that lawn, plant the mums and prep those bulbs for beautiful spring color! 

This year a group of residents from Bluefields Avenue and Cumberland Circle have decided to gather together and take on the cleanup and revitalization of the triangles most in need. Our goal of this Fall cleanup is not only to tidy up these triangles but also design a landscape that will continue to define Historic Bluefields as one of the most beautiful neighborhoods to travel around. 

Most Bluefield’s residents would now be aware that the proposed cell tower behind properties at the Donelson Pike entrance will be moved to another location outside of Bluefields. There are many people to thank for this very happy outcome and I will be naming some of those great folks that helped us achieve this outcome but I wanted to share a brief summary of one of the most hectic, stressful and ultimately rewarding experiences that I have personally been involved in. I also share some things that started happening before we knew about the cell tower. In hind-site I think the stars aligned for Bluefields and the outcome could have been very different for our neighborhood. Things seem to fall in to place for us and as a Bluefield resident I am proud and happy to share this story with you.

Please be sure to join us on Saturday June 14th 2014 for our Historic Bluefields Annual picnic.

Our gracious hosts Kara & Joe Siejakowski and their fellow neighbors are looking forward to you joining us in what is sure to be a grand occasion! We also have some special guests who will be joining and we have been supported by some very generous sponsors that have come together to ensure this will be an Bluefields event for the ages!

As of today June 2nd 2014, we have 349 signatures!
(244 electronic and 105 paper petitions)

For all those who have signed, we Thank You - and if you haven't signed up yet please sign up here

Our discussions with State Representative Darren Jernigan and Mr. Don Majors of Congressman Cooper's office Wednesday May 21st went well. We have their support and Congressman Cooper personally presented the information shared at the meeting to Parallel Industries and The Nashville/ Eastern Railway on Friday May 23rd and again on Friday May 30th. We hope to hear this week of the recommended next steps we should pursue.

Neighbors expect damages will be in the millions and will extend to millions lost in future development investment around Donelson Station....

A packed room at Fifty Forward on Tuesday night was given the first of what is expected to be several presentations and updates on the status of the 120 foot tall proposed cell tower that is slated to placed on railway land (and within inches of Bluefields private property).

We cordially invite Bluefields Residents and Neighbors to join Kara & Joe Siejakowski and their fellow neighbors for our Historic Bluefields Annual Picnic which will be held on Saturday June 14th, 2014 from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

This year we ask all of Bluefields to help us rally around our neighbors at the Donelson Pike end of Bluefield Avenue that are in direct line of the new proposed cell tower. There has never been a better time for our neighborhood to stand together and united with each other.

Please join us this Tuesday May 20, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. at Fifty Forward for our Historic Bluefields Neighborhood Meeting. We have lots to discuss with updates from Joe and Kara on the No Cell Tower at Historic Bluefields Campaign that kicked off last week.

Bluefields Home Owners/Neighborhood Meeting
Tuesday May 20, 2014 - 6:00 p.m.
(Enter at Main Entrance) 
Here is our Agenda for Tuesday!

Our Membership Drive is also kicking off for 2014 - with the option to now pay online or fill our out form and send in your payment. It is critical to get as many residents supporting our Home Owners / Neighborhood association and your support is greatly appreciated!

To Join or Renew Your Bluefield's Home Owners Association Membership ONLINE - CLICK HERE or Print Our Membership Application and send your membership thru regular mail...

Thank you for support your neighborhood and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday evening!

Thank you to all of you who signed today! It was a pleasure getting to know some new faces and visit with familiar ones.

For those of you we missed, please be sure to check your mailbox for the paper version of the petition. You may leave these in the mailbox of 2724 Bluefield or pass them along to friends and family if you have already submitted the electronic version.

A 120 foot Communications Cell Tower has been proposed to be placed on Railway Land next to (and on) private Bluefield Residential properties at the Donelson Pike and Bluefield Avenue end. This would have devastating effect on our Historic Neighborhood that has been a railway line neighbor for close to 100 years. Not only will property values be effected by the towers mamoth appearence (that most likely will be seen in winter from all over Bluefields), but critical sound and visual tree barriers will be removed and railway land pollutants that date over 100 years including fuel, old railway ties and equipment will be disturbed and released to contaminate immediate residential properties - properties that have a over 14 young children that play daily in their back yards.

District 15 Councilman Phil Claiborne will be hosting an neighborhood information meeting in regard to the proposed communication tower to be located on the Bluefield's residents side of the tracks near the Lebanon Pike Entrance (opposite Fifty Forward).

Join us this Saturday April 26th 2014 at 8:00 a.m. for Bluefield's Annual Spring Clean Up Day. Keep Bluefield's Beautiful Day focuses on our beautiful common areas and includes cleaning up the garden beds, painting some sign posts where needed, and adding some new landscaping and planting where opportunity exists...

Keep America Beautiful's Great American Cleanup, the nation's largest community improvement program, takes place annually from March 1 through May 31, involving an estimated 3 million volunteers and attendees. To get into the spirit of this effort Historic Bluefields will be joining forces with "Clean Up Donelson Day" and we will be setting up 2 primary stations in Bluefields to clean up on Saturday March 22nd from 9:00 a.m. till 11:00 a.m..

Dear neighbors of Bluefields,

We have received numerous complaints from neighbors over the past few months concerning roaming dogs in our neighborhood. The complaints are increasing weekly.