What Brambleton asks of a deck
The Brambleton Community Association reviews essentially every change to the outside of a building or lot, permanent or temporary, through its Covenants Committee, and a deck is one of the association's own examples, along with a room and a patio. The review reaches small things too: the association names changes in color and materials among them. And approval is required when an existing item is to be removed, so on a deck replacement the committee looks at the old deck coming out as well as the new one going in.
How the Covenants Committee review runs
The committee usually meets on the second Monday of each month. An application is due by 9:00 AM on the Friday ten days before the meeting, and only applications complete by that deadline are reviewed there. The meeting is an open meeting of the association: residents are welcome to attend, and applicants do not have to. Decision letters go out in writing by email, and by US Mail when that applies, five to seven business days after the meeting, and each month the association posts the list of design review applications up for consideration.
The association publishes what an application is checked against: the BCA Design Review Guidelines, Policy Resolution #5 on design review procedures, the Design Review Application itself, an Application Review Checklist and Appendix V, a set of sample plats. From the Friday deadline to a decision is therefore the ten days to the meeting plus the five to seven business days after it, and that span sets the earliest start for a new deck.
Aiming for a committee date?
Call or send the form and tell us when you hope to build; we will work back from the Friday deadline.
How we prepare a Brambleton deck application
At the first visit we look at the old deck, if there is one, and the yard it stands in. The application package is built to the association's checklist: the deck's drawings, and the decking boards, railings and stain or color shown with samples and product sheets. When an old deck is coming out, its removal goes on the same application. The build is then timed to the committee's decision letter. How the frame, footings and composite boards go together is on our decks page.
Who permits a deck in Brambleton?
The county does. Brambleton is on Loudoun County's own list of its communities and is not an incorporated town, so no town permit comes first and the county's Department of Building and Development handles the deck; what it asks for, and how it inspects, is on our Loudoun County page.