Good Afternoon Residents,
Every spring we wish for the warmth of summer and every August we wish for the mild fall temperatures! With recent heat indexes in excess of 104, it’s been a hot week and the heat is predicted to continue for a while longer. Maybe we can at least say goodbye to the rain for a while.
Development Updates
Progress in the White Cliffs neighborhood has continued on schedule despite the large amount of rain we’ve had. Water and sewer lines are virtually complete along Barnesmore Drive, with just a little bit of storm water work yet to be done. The deepest part of the sewer line work along White Cliffs is almost done, and they are over halfway done with that section as a whole. The sewer depth is seventeen feet deep in some sections, so it has been quite a project. As a result of this work, passage to the boat ramp area is still not safe for vehicular traffic and exceptional care should be taken if you walk in that area.
The clearing of the westbound lane of Chair Road down to the marina is complete, and they will now begin grading that roadway to make it passable for vehicle traffic. If you have walked back in that area recently, you will also see work continuing on the berm along I-140 as large dump trucks remove debris from the clearing and haul it to the berm site.
Our onsite mowing crews have been trying to keep up with the mowing of the parks and vacant Lots over the last several weeks, but the rain has certainly slowed that down. They made good progress this week, and that work will continue into next week as well. Traffic at the Sales Center was very strong this past two weeks, and we have several new homes starting including on Lots 50, 113, 30 and 70. Premier Homes new model, the Florida Bay, should be finished in the next two weeks and improvements along Sea Holly Drive will be forthcoming in conjunction with that.
Lastly, please make sure to check the frequency settings on your individual irrigation systems. With the excessessive amount of rain we’ve had frequent watering can create problems for the grounds crew when they mow. Once your sod is established on your individual Lot, watering two or three times a week is usually all that is needed and not watering on Fridays (lawn service day) will help cut down on rutting when they mow. Yardnique will be onsite to prune bushes and shrubs next week and also to apply both pre and post emergent weed control. Those services will likely not happen on our normal service day so don’t be surprised to see them more than once next week.
Amenities Update
The Boat/RV area is now in use, and several of you signed up to utilize it last week. As I’ve mentioned before, the contract for the paving has been let, and we are now just waiting for the contractor to get onsite and pave both the roadways within the amenity area and the various courts. We are pushing all of the contractors as hard as we can to get the work completed in this area, and while it seems to be moving slow, a lot is happening in the background.
As I’ve mentioned before, we are also hammering on several contractors for estimates for the multi-use room so we can get that started and it has gotten to the point that the general contractors are blind copying us on their e-mails to their sub-contractors pestering them for their bids. There is just so much work going on around the region that everything is taking a great deal of time to get done.
While we do not yet have final approval from CAMA for the major modification to the marina and Riverwalk amenities, we have received favorable feedback from several of the larger ones and are optimistic that we should receive a final decision in the next couple of weeks. Once that occurs, the floating sections of the Riverwalk will be fabricated and floated up the river. We will continue to keep you posted as this process continues.
One request for the pool area. If you utilize the umbrellas in the pool area please lower them once you leave as this helps protect them in the case of inclement or violent weather. Also related to the pool area, there is a vicious rumor that the water volleyball club has challenged the Sales Staff to a friendly tournament and we are all making sure our health insurance is up to date before accepting! Stay tuned as this could be an excellent way to end the summer.
Neighborhood Safety
Felica Grant, Billy Jayne and I rode around the community Wednesday evening with Deputy Moore from the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Department to get input from him on ways to best deter future problems. There were several good suggestions, and they will be discussed at the next Neighborhood Watch meeting on September 21st at 7:00 p.m. at Porches. There will be more about that in the next several weeks. One of the topics we all discussed with Deputy Moore was the issue of gunfire coming from nearby neighborhoods. None of those instances have been within River Bluffs, and they are most likely Castle Hayne residents target shooting. While it often sounds like the noise is “right next door”, everything from the wind and low cloud cover can exacerbate the noise. Deputy Moore encouraged everyone to never hesitate to call 911 and the Sheriff’s Department will gladly respond.
The power lines for the “pink” house at the corner of Granny and Chair Roads have been disconnected, and we are awaiting approval of the demolition permit from New Hanover County. That house should be removed in the next week or so.
Community Activities
Operation Hope Front – This worthwhile event has been rescheduled to this coming Thursday, the 25th at the River Bluffs pool. Those of you have already volunteered to assist have been in communication with Tina Chadwick but if you would like to help out there is still time, and you can contact Tina at 301-751-4790 or tinachadwick@outlook.com. This event is designed to provide the spouses and children of military personnel deployed away from home a much-needed break with lunch and a swim.
Farmer’s Market – Farmer Steve will be back on the front porch of Porches tomorrow from 9:00a.m. to 2:00p.m. and is rumored to be bringing tomatoes! As his post from earlier today indicated, he and his team will be very active up at the farm next week and I encourage you to stop in and say hi.
Live Music at Porches – David West is working with several live bands to arrange for music at Porches every Sunday afternoon in September, and we will let you know as the schedule is developed. Based on activity over the summer, we plan to begin closing at 6:00 on Sunday evenings starting next Sunday. The music hours will be moved from 3:00p.m. to 6:00p.m
River Bluffs Resident Portal – Thanks to the efforts of Bob Conger, Tara and our marketing guru Megan Mabe, there have been a number of improvements to the portal. It is a tremendous resource for information about what’s going on in the community and the place to go to find things such as ARC applications, association documents, and general neighborhood information. If you are not yet signed up (or know someone who’s not), or if you need some help getting familiar with the portal, please let Tara know and we can either arrange a personal meeting to go over it or schedule a small group one evening during the week to go over its many capabilities.
In closing, if you are interested in becoming a “rock star” and participating in one of our resident testimonials, please contact Tara and she will schedule a time for you. The testimonials are on our website, and you can already see some of you neighbors who have become famous by graciously agreeing to a short interview about why you chose River Bluffs and what you like about the community.
Have a great weekend, and as always, please feel free to contact me with any questions.