Good Afternoon Residents,
It’s hard to believe that it’s August and even harder still to realize that school will be starting in just three short weeks. The weather this past week has been amazing and should remind all of us of why we call this fantastic area home. Some updates for you are noted below
Development Updates
Skinner-Smith has been working daily on the White Cliffs neighborhood, and they are making significant progress. As of today, they have completed forty percent of the sewer line installation along both White Cliffs and Barnesmore and roughly twenty-five percent of the stormwater pipe installation. Work on those two projects will continue for several more weeks and once completed the roadways will be rocked. As I’ve indicated in previous correspondence, passage to the boat ramp is discouraged for at least a few more weeks as crews continue to excavate back there and you may find yourself running out of road. We will be sure to let everyone know once it is safe to take a vehicle and boat trailer back to the ramp.
At the end of this week, approximately ninety percent of the clearing of the westbound lane of Chair Road going down to the marina has been cleared, and the median between the two lanes looks great. In that same general area, you may notice that the berm construction is continuing as well. In the spirit of recycling as much as we can here at River Bluffs, good fill dirt is excavated along the berm route and the material from the clearing is buried and then covered with dirt that is not as suitable for building. It is interesting to look at the progression of the vegetation’s growth along the berm if you consider that the plants behind the home sites on Burgee Court and going down behind the home sites on Cornubia is only three years old. The same sort of plantings will be made on the new portions of the berm that is under construction.
It has been a busy week for new home construction with home sites 98, 14 and 174 being prepared for the start of construction. Work will begin on two more new home sites in Rosewood Landing later this month, and both Legacy and Herrington will be starting new homes on homesites in the next several weeks.
Amenities Update
We are waiting on one piece for the Boat/RV area gate and expect to have it next week. Once we get it, we will be able to padlock the gate and residents will be able to begin storing boats and RVs at the site. As promised last week, we have established the rates for the storage area, and they are as follows:
- Vehicles/Boats up to 25 feet in length: $35/month
- Vehicles/Boats 26-35 feet in length: $45/month
- Vehicles/Boats over 35 feet in length: $50/month
These rates were established by comparing them to similar facilities around the area and are based on uncovered storage. In recognition of the fact that we do not yet have power, lighting, and key-fob controlled access in place as of yet, we will only be charging fifty percent (50%) of the rates mentioned above until those improvements are in place. Residents electing to rent space can contact Tara Kobasiar (910-675-7991) to arrange for payment and also get the combination for the padlock that will secure the gate. The half-price rates will remain in effect until we get the lighting and controlled access features in place.
The contract for the paving of the roadways within the amenity area and the various courts have been secured, and we are now just waiting for the paving company to schedule the work. The amount of work in this region has slowed all of the contractors down, but we will let you know when the work begins. On a related note, the contractors bidding on the multi-use room are still collecting estimates from their subcontractors, and we will continue to push them for their final bids. It took one of the general contractors ten days to get his drywall and electrical sub-contractors out to the site to prepare their estimates.
Although we mentioned this last week, thank you to Randy Jayne for installing the shelf in the mail center for the Lending Library. It looks great and adds to the space. Also, a special thanks to Ritt Schiano for coordinating the flagpole installation. We will be getting a better light for the pole in the next few weeks. Bob Conger recently led an effort to build some bat houses out of scrap lumber collected from the neighborhood, and those will be installed in the coming weeks to provide some natural mosquito control.
Neighborhood Safety
The Community Watch Captains and I will be touring the property the week after next with the Sheriff’s Department, and another neighborhood meeting will be held in September. Don’t forget you can always contact the Greeter shack at 910-675-2183 or by at: greeter@riverbluffsliving.com if you need to let the guys know that you will be out of town or if you are expecting multiple guests.
Last week I mentioned speeding in the community and in an ironic twist of events I was politely reminded that that applies to golf carts as well! It seems our newer River Bluffs golf cart has some horsepower and in one of my late afternoon rides back from the marina I lost track of my speed. Just a reminder of how easy it can be for all us to forget how speed can sneak up on us.
The final item in this category has to do with our wildlife here in River Bluffs. Please remember that the wildlife was here first. We should respect them at all times. This includes feeding; we should not feed them anything that is not already here. Doing so creates issues as it can desensitize them people, which can lead to problems down the road.
Community Activities
The boat ride down to Port City Marina and Black Fin restaurant was a great success, and we had thirty-seven people ride the boat and thirty-nine at dinner. Everyone I talked to indicated that they had a great time and we look forward to coordinating more trips in the future with additional venues featured or just simply free time downtown.
Operation Hope Front – Tara and I met with Tina Chadwick earlier this week, and everything is set for the great event next Thursday, August 10th. More volunteers are always welcome, and if you are interested in helping out with the event, please contact Tina directly at 301-751-4790 or tinachadwick@outlook.com. She has done a great job coordinating this event which will give the military families of those deployed away from home a much need break and fun by the pool.
Farmer’s Market – Farmer Steve will be back on the porch in front of Porches tomorrow (Saturday) from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. with another great assortment of produce. As I’ve mentioned before, the variety will continue to expand as the weather cools down and we will also be bringing back the CSA program in the near future.
Live Music at Porches – August will be a “musical” month at Porches with the band “Moto’s” playing this Sunday from 4:00 p.m. till 7:00 p.m. Come and join in the fun. The following Sunday, August 13th from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., the band “Overtyme” will be making a return appearance as well. Friday, August 18th the “Babyboomers” will be back to start playing at 6:00 p.m. We hope to have music every Sunday afternoon and will be tying in some football activities with that once the season officially gets underway.
As always, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Having said that, next week please contact Tara at tara@riverbluffsliving.com if you have questions as I will be on vacation and returning to the office on Monday the 14th. There will still be an update next week.
Have a great weekend!!