The Blackhawk Homeowners Association is nestled in the hills of the beautiful San Ramon Valley at the base of Mt. Diablo. We think of ourselves not as a homeowners’ association, but rather as a neighborhood and community where families can flourish, where all members, young and old, can have privacy, and where homes and recreation blend in our relationship to the Blackhawk Country Club. Blackhawk HOA is a planned unit development, consisting of 2027 homes, with an estimated population of 5000 people. We have over 25 miles of private roads and hundreds of acres of open space, meandering both inside and around the borders of the community. We are an affluent community and one of the most beautiful in Northern California. We think of ourselves as the Premier Community of the East Bay. Access to this elegant community is through one of our four staffed or electronic entrances. Our Gate Attendants are available 24 hours a day and they proudly stand ready to assist residents, guests and Country Club members with entry into the community. As one enters Blackhawk, one will be impressed with the variety and styles of our beautiful custom homes. The lush manicured landscaping is complemented by Blackhawk Country Club’s two renowned 18-hole golf courses. Many of our homes have magnificent views of the surrounding countryside. Though separate from the homeowners’ association, the Blackhawk Country Club is an intrinsic part of our community. The association and club have many mutual responsibilities and the club offers a wonderful social and recreational aspect to life here at Blackhawk. In addition to the golf courses, there are two elegant club houses as well as tennis and swimming facilities. The association offers a variety of diverse homes. All homes are members of the Master Association and roughly 20% of our homes are also members of one of the 11 sub-associations, each with their own special needs, Boards of Directors and assessments. Sub-associations were created because these groups of homes have maintenance responsibilities that are unique to their area.
Blackhawk is self managed, governed by a five-member Board of Directors and augmented by the volunteer
efforts of three committees and the service of several outstanding contractors. The staff works under the
direction of the General Manager Melissa Manzo. Hank Schultzel is our current President.
A goal of the Board and Staff for the last several years has been to provide ever improving service. Our
five-member administrative staff, two maintenance technicians and five landscape team are all geared to be
“user friendly” and to provide professional assistance to all of our residents and guests. The contractors
providing 24-hour Privacy Services have been trained to provide the same courteous and personal service.
We are pleased to have Allied Universal Protection Services providing Privacy services.
We recognize that moving into a large community like Blackhawk can be exciting and possibly a bit
overwhelming. We provide new residents with a complete and expanded welcome package introducing
them to the community and area as well as a small gift of welcome from the Board of Directors.
The five-member Board of Directors invests several hours each month working with management to protect
and enhance the community and property values. They also serve as members on one or more of our
committees. These dedicated volunteers each serve staggering 2-year terms and some have had the privilege
of serving the community for several years.
The association, through its General Manager and Staff, administers and maintains the common areas,
consisting of both improved landscaping and un-improved natural land, parks, sports fields, roads, parking
lots and the gates and entry structures. In addition, to promote the beauty of our community, we have
installed landscape improvements and have taken on the maintenance of portions of county land outside of
our gates.
Volunteers assist us by contributing time and effort to the Architectural Review and Emergency
Preparedness Committees.
We use the InterAccess Gate System and we were the first community in Northern California with this
sophisticated entry system. At our request, InterAccess also developed the on-line guest service which many
if not most of our homeowners are now using. We are also the only community in the Northern California,
maybe the entire state, which offers this on-line service.
Highlighting our committees let me take a moment to expound on each of them.
Our Architectural Review Committee meets twice monthly reviewing construction and landscaping plans
for all of the homes in the community. With each house being individually designed and with lots varying in
size, location and topography, design review is both an interesting and complex process where neighbors
and neighborhood needs must blend with the needs of the new homes under construction.
The Emergency Preparedness Committee developed our own 72-hour plan. They have put together the
equipment to set up an emergency center in case of crisis. They are currently meeting with local Police and
Fire officials to determine where we can be of assistance during an emergency. We are also proud to have
put almost 100 residents and staff members through the CERT emergency training program offered by the
Fire District. This program is uniform nationwide.
In 1999, the Association completed the process of amending our governing documents. With the assistance
of Berding & Weil, this process was informative, innovative and fun. Board Members, Staff and a group of
dedicated homeowners worked closely with our counsel for more than a year and developed an updated, yet
simplified and organized, much-needed new set of CC&Rs, By-Laws and Articles of Incorporation. With
the adoption of the new documents we formally changed our name to the Blackhawk Homeowners
Association.
While the Association does not have responsibility for the repair and maintenance of private property,
individual residences or vacant lots, management stands ready to advise private homeowners wherever
possible in maintaining their respective properties in a manner consistent with community standards.
Having our own web master onsite provides us with personalized, creative and prompt updates when
needed. One of our proudest moments was when InterAccess worked with Staff to institute the on-line guest
management described above. Keep watching our web site for future innovative changes at
www.blackhawk-hoa.com.
We do things in a big way here, and budget items reflect this. To give you an idea of the vastness of some of
our expenses, our landscape contract runs $400,000 a year, and this is just for contract services and doesn’t
include plants or other improvements. Weed abatement of our hillsides, which is required by the Fire
District, runs $90,000 annually and depending on weather conditions, may be higher. Road maintenance
averages $750,000 or more per year.
One aspect of Blackhawk that we are most proud of is our sense of responsibility in community service:
- Each year we make our baseball and soccer fields available to the local children’s sporting leagues;
- Our Holiday Food Drive benefits the Contra Costa Food Bank.
- In 2000, we proudly began our alliance with Hospice of Contra Costa County designating one of the
beautiful Oak trees outside our main entrance as a “Hospice Tree of Lights.” The lighting ceremony held in
early December is well attended and we have enjoyed the music of the Diablo Vista Middle School Chorus
for many years.
Contra Costa County provides special services to Blackhawk residents and, in turn, our homeowners pay
ad-valorem taxes for these special services that are provided to the community by the county. The
ad-valorem taxes fund Blackhawk Police District which is a division of the Contra Costa Sheriff’s
Department. Essentially we have our own police district here in Blackhawk.
Other tax funds are specifically designated for a Geologic Hazard Abatement District (GHAD). GHAD
monitors and provides control and repairs for landslides which may threaten to damage property. This
invaluable service provides us with an insurance that we could not otherwise obtain.
So what is Blackhawk? Simply put, we are an elegant community, with a strong sense of neighborhood,
surrounded by a beautiful country club, nestled in the hills below Mount Diablo. Our entries provide access
and personal service to residents and guests alike. Our members have a deep-rooted sense of community
both within and outside the association. In short, Blackhawk Homeowners Association is a lovely
community where our members are proud to reside and our staff is honored to be of service.
We truly are the Premier Community of the East Bay.
VISION STATEMENT
TO BE THE PREMIER COMMUNITY OF THE BAY AREA
MISSION STATEMENT
OUR MISSION IS TO MAINTAIN A HIGH QUALITY OF LIFE WITHIN THE BLACKHAWK
COMMUNITY IN ORDER TO MAXIMIZE THE SATISFACTION OF OUR RESIDENTS. THIS
WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED BY PROVIDING EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE
ADMINISTRATION OF THE ASSOCIATION’S ASSETS; DELIVERING THOUGHTFUL,
CONSISTENT AND FRIENDLY SERVICE TO OUR RESIDENTS; AND BY ESTABLISHING,
MAINTAINING AND ENFORCING APPROPRIATE STANDARDS IN ORDER TO SUSTAIN
THE BEAUTY, CHARACTER AND ARCHITECTURAL INTEGRITY OF OUR COMMUNITY.