Good Evening,
At long last, it appears that fall has arrived. There is talk of temperatures in the forties on Sunday evening. This is such a great time of year to be outside and enjoy everything our community and our area have to offer. Crews have been hard at work, and while there is still much to be done, a lot of progress has been made in getting things back to normal.
As you have likely seen, Duke Energy crews (and their contractors) have been working over the last week and a half in replacing several of the poles in their easement area. While it does look somewhat chaotic right now, once they complete the installation of the new poles and remove the old one it will look much better. It was their idea to put down the wooden pallets in an attempt to save some of the grass, and they will remove those when they finish as well. The lines across the river that came down required them to build a road out of some 8,000 mats, and they will likely be working over there for the next several weeks. Once Duke is gone, we will be grading the area where the observation tower was and putting it back up.
The path down to the marina over the bridge has been cleared, and while it is still a little bumpy, you can get to the marina. You won’t be able to go the other way as development crews are installing sewer and work has progressed well over the last couple of weeks. If you’ve ventured to the back of Rosewood Landing, you have seen that crews are making significant progress back there in bringing the next section closer to completion. The boat ramp is also open for business, and the river has calmed down and flushed itself quite well after the two storms. Crews will continue to remove trees from vacant Lots over the next several weeks as well as from other parts of the property. We will have a tree service on site as well to remove the branches that broke but did not fall from trees in the common areas.
September was very slow from a sales standpoint as only one Lot closed. Traffic to the Sales Center began to pick up substantially towards the end of the month and has been very strong in October. You probably noticed construction beginning on Lot 12, Lot 169 and Lot 173 among others. Three of the six Lots on the other side of the power line easement have already closed, and construction will be starting on a couple of those homes in the next several weeks.
Amenities
As I mentioned above, the boat ramp is back in business, and we will be doing additional cleaning up around it over the next two weeks. The large trees that came down around the tennis and pickleball courts have been removed, and we will have the fence company coming back out to repair the damaged sections. In the past, we have closed the pool around the first of November and if the cool weather continues over the next week or so, we will likely go ahead and close it down in early November. While there will still be sunny, warm days in November and December; closing the pool is really done to save the HOA money and to preserve the furniture as we store it all in the restrooms over the winter.
Neighborhood Safety/Activity
I’ve modified the name of this section as the issue for this update is not necessarily about safety, but rather a Castle Hayne neighborhood item. You have likely read about a sand mine that is proposed for the property north of the GE property. The owners of the property have a state permit for the mine but need to go through rezoning with New Hanover County to get final approval. One of the requirements for that rezoning is that the applicant host an informational meeting and that will be held next Wednesday, October 24th, at 6:30pm at the church at the corner of Castle Hayne Road and Chair Road. The purpose of the meeting is for the applicant to provide information about the proposed sand mine and it will be an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about the project and ask questions. A number of residents are planning to attend and its always a good idea to be involved in not only things that happen in River Bluffs, but also greater Castle Hayne.
Community Activities
We hope you were able to stop by Porches tonight for live music (Gene Gregory was playing) and also be sure to stop in for our inaugural Sunday Brunch this Sunday beginning at 11:00am. If you haven’t made reservations yet, please call Porches at 910-675-9090. Check out the event calendar on the website or on Facebook to see the Friday night band line-up.  on Friday, Oct 26th – Robert Beauchene will play from 6:00 – 9:00pm we hope to see you then!
We will be hosting our first Trivia Night at Porches on Friday, November 17th beginning at 7:00pm. It should be a great time and a chance to see who the “genius’ among us” are.
Residents have planned a Block party for tomorrow, Saturday the 20th from 1:00pm to 4:00pm with live music included. Please contact Jhansi (910-742-1108) or Barb (410-726-0737) if you haven’t already to get more information or to see what you can bring.
Stay tuned for more about upcoming events, including the December oyster roast!
Have a fantastic weekend and enjoy this beautiful weather. Thanks for making River Bluffs your home and we appreciate your continued support.
John