Bentana Woods West

The 2023 Annual General Meeting will be held on Sunday, April 30th at 7:30pm. It will be held outside, at the playground between Farsta and Scandia (By 1508 Farsta and 1531 Scandia). In the case of rain, it will be held at 1506 Scandia. (Due to rain)

AGENDA
1. Call to Order – Verification of a Quorum
2. Election of Members of Board of Directors
3. Cluster Update
4. Adjournment

A resident representative from at least twenty-two households must be physically present to constitute a quorum. If you cannot be present but would like to vote, please complete the proxy form you received via mail and give it to the ‘individual named as proxy’ to present it to the Secretary at the meeting. Please note that proxies do not count towards a quorum.

You’ll also be receiving information via the mail. Please let the Board know if you have any questions.

Candidate Bios

Jason Askew 

Jason Askew, his wife Lindsey, and Dog Mollie Brown moved to Bentana Woods West in 2018 and had their first child at the end of 2019. They moved to Northern Virginia in late 2016 before picking Reston as their base. They looked high and low across the region and loved how the communities were tied together and surrounded by trees to bring peace, quiet, and serenity. Before moving to Virginia, Jason spent a considerable period in Rhode Island. However, he had grown up as a Navy Brat moving worldwide, including the Hampton Roads area and Spain.

He has served as Vice President on the BWWCA Board of Directors since 2019 and has dealt with many matters with the board over the past four years. He brings eight years of experience from a small, 4-unit HOA in Providence, Rhode Island, where he served his entire residency as President. He dealt with various issues ranging from budgetary constraints of a small HOA, vendor searches, issues, and all of the normal neighborhood subjects that have come up over the years. He takes pride in how his home represents his values and family and wants that for his neighbors. He also takes great pride in the surrounding trees and nature that make the neighborhood special. His focus during his last tenure was heading the EV committee, which has established guidelines for residents to have some access to charging capabilities while preparing our cluster for future public charging capabilities.

Looking to the future, Jason feels we must maintain a high standard of home and neighborhood care to keep the home values as Reston grows and evolves. Our maintenance requires a balance of new ideology while listening and learning from neighbors who have been here for years. He promises first to listen, learn, speak, and act fairly with the board and neighbors.

Jon Rojas

Jon lives in Farsta with his wife Amanda, his newborn son, Graham, and his senior dog, Tucker. The whole family is a huge fan of the nearby woods and trails. They love their neighborhood and he wants to ensure the value of our homes and surrounding area is maintained at the highest level. 

He has served on the board for six years, with four of those years serving as President. Previously he served as the cluster’s Communications Director, where he created an email distribution list and maintained the cluster website. Moving forward, his focus is to keep bringing the cluster together from both the community and digital perspectives, as well as ensuring that resident dues are contributing to the continuous improvement of the cluster.

Jon looks forward to continuing serving the cluster via the board of directors and he appreciates your consideration!

Clayton Lee

I’m Clayton Lee, a Reston native who lives on Park Glen with my wife Margo and our two young daughters, Virginia and Evangeline. I’m the tall bearded guy you might often see out walking around the cluster with our dog Red, or out doing yard work for neighbors. I know that might sound odd to some folks, but I find it therapeutic to mow grass and trim bushes. If something small needs to be done to help keep our community looking nice, I’m willing to pitch in and do it myself! If elected to the board, my priorities will be fiscal responsibility and managing contracts to keep our cluster fees as low as possible. Thanks for your consideration.

Claire Painter 

My name is Claire Painter and I am excited to announce my candidacy for a term on the Bentana Woods West Board. I’m a Fairfax County teacher and mom of a blended household of five kids, ages 8 to 18. I’d love the opportunity to utilize my outreach experience in fostering a stronger sense of community within our cluster by organizing more events and opportunities to volunteer. I’d also like to help improve on our existing webpage and to restart the neighborhood newsletter. I’m a strong believer in transparency and building consensus. Thank you for your consideration in believing in me as a potential candidate! I look forward to getting to know all of you more and listening to your ideas to help maintain and improve our community.

Anne Smyers

My name is Anne Smyers and I would like to add my name to the list of candidates running for the open board seats this month.

I have lived on Park Glen Court since 1994 and served on the Landscape Committee for the past 8 years. The Landscape Committee is tasked with ensuring that the public areas of our cluster are maintained so that they’re attractive and healthy; this includes the wooded areas, and care of the trees.

Our cluster has been certified as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. Perhaps some of you are familiar with the ‘backyard park’ model of caring for the land, which posits that each of us, on our own little parcel of land, has the option of caring for it with regard for the native species that live in the area. In this way we can contribute to the health of the local ecosystem, planting the things that native birds and animals need in order to thrive. As a cluster we have this precious resource of 10 acres of shared space that provides beauty, privacy, shade, play areas, open areas, and habitat for local wildlife. We have the opportunity – and obligation, in my view – to care for this space so that it remains healthy and thriving for the benefit of all: for us, the human residents, and the wildlife that was here before us. A healthy environment sustains us all.

As a board member I would advocate for the health and maintenance of this resource, the land we live on. I will bring my experience on the Landscape Committee as well as my years of studying horticulture to the task.

I also care about community, and knowing each other as neighbors, and sponsoring cluster events that bring us together in work and in play to encourage a cooperative and vibrant social community.