Good Evening,
Can you believe it’s December? I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend with plenty of food, family, and football. Crazy to think that Christmas is only three weeks away. I hope all of you were able to attend the Resident Oyster Roast tonight from 6:00-8:30. There was live music, oysters, Brunswick Stew, beer, wine and plenty of fellowships. Please remember that Caldwell Banker Seacoast was been kind enough to sponsor this event and instead of charging a fee we asked that each resident donate (which may be given to a server at Porches this weekend if you forgot at the event) and the total amount collected during the evening will be divided between Lump To Laughter and Operation HopeFront.
The final sections of missing curbing along White Cliffs will be installed next week and paving likely scheduled for the following week. Even with the paving down there, will still be several things to be done before recording the Lots, but our goal is to have nice new pavement by Christmas along both White Cliffs and Barnesmore. Work on the other side of the power lines has been continuing, and the new stormwater retention area is completed and looks great. It is designed to not only handle excess stormwater but also to protect the natural area that leads down to the walking bridge and ultimately to the river.
Many of you may have heard about some HOA related activities that occurred over the last couple of weeks, and I want to bring all of you up to speed. As indicated in the HOA’s Declaration, River Bluffs Development Corp (“RBDCâ€) will control the HOA until the sale of the last Lot. That being said, the development team recognized the need to get homeowners engaged in the activities of the HOA to not only get critical feedback but also to provide a forum for current and future issues. The development team selected three homeowners (one from Rosewood Landing, one from the townhouse and one from the ne-traditional section of the neighborhood) and Elsie Freund, Lori Nichols and Bob Conger all agreed to participate in what we will refer to as a “Consulting Committee to the Board†(“Committeeâ€). Tara and I met with them the week of Thanksgiving, and we discussed everything from the budget to the hours of operation for the greeters. We will be meeting again at least once or twice before the Annual Meeting, and I’m sure you will be receiving information from the group in the next week or so. Membership on this committee will rotate so we can get as many people involved as possible.
The vendor handling the tree relocations delayed his work by a couple of weeks, but we are still planning on having him out to move some trees. It will be better to do the work when its colder and all the leaves are off the trees. Sales and traffic were both strong in November, and we are currently 8 Lots ahead of where we were last year at this time, and we have six Lots scheduled to close in December.
Amenities Update
Work on the multi-purpose room will likely commence in early January, and it should go very quickly. We got some feedback about the need for an additional sink and countered in the space, and those are being added to the plan and will be included. As I’ve indicated previously, the same contractor will be coordinating the installation of the fencing and restrooms up at the amenities area. The vendor for the court overlays is still several weeks out. Every week I say “next week†on the progress with our permit modification with CAMA but we overcame some significant hurdles in the last two weeks, and we are inching to the finish line. There will be some additional communication from the Committee shortly about some other thoughts on amenities.
Neighborhood Safety
Watching the news the other evening I was surprised to hear that much of our area is actually in a drought status with the lack of recent rains. I say this to remind you to please exercise caution when having a fire outside and also to be careful where you park your car. I’ve seen many a car fire started by someone parking on dry leaves and the hot exhaust system igniting the leaves.
Please be sure to exercise caution when you are down at the marina. The river currents can be very swift and need to be respected.
Community Activity
Oyster Roast– Hope everyone will be able to make it tonight and don’t forget to bring your donations for Operation HopeFront and Lump To Laughter. It should be a great time, and the weather is predicted to be perfect.
Farmer’s Market-Steve will be back out tomorrow with some added products from some of his fellow farmers. Please stop by and say hi to between 10:00a.m. and 3:00p.m. The Committee will also have some communication coming out on this shortly.
Christmas Golf Cart Parade– The second annual Christmas Golf Cart Parade will be held Friday, December 22 at 5:30 in front of Porches. Who needs a Holiday Flotilla when you can have a golf cart parade right here in your own neighborhood? This should be a lot of fun and Porches will have hot chocolate and other goodies before and after. More information on this will be coming out soon.
Our live music on Sundays has wrapped up for the season at Porches, but Tara has been busy scheduling bands and performers to start up in the spring. We will have entertainment on Friday evenings as well as other weekend nights.
I hope everyone had a great time at the oyster roast tonight and thanks for choosing to live in this beautiful community. Please don’t ever hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
– John Lennon