Good Morning,
These mild sunny days are one of the biggest reasons we all chose to live in this part of North Carolina. Going through a couple days of cold weather is worth enjoying a fifty-five degree Saturday in February! There’s a lot to cover this week, and this post will be longer than usual.
Thanks to all of you who attended the information meeting this past week during which we announced the two new neighborhoods we are introducing later this year. Cottage Park at River Bluffs will offer nine different floor plans ranging from 1,600 square feet to 2,500 square feet and pricing starting at $305,000. The homes will be architecturally consistent with the rest of the River Bluffs community in that they will have metal accents over the front porches, no vinyl and plenty of great features. Offering homes in this price range will allow us to reach a market that we currently can’t, given that our average home price in River Bluffs is $450,000. There were some great questions the other night, including concern about the impact of Cottage Park on overall home prices within the River Bluffs community. Our community is now large enough that appraisers focus on comparable sales within the appropriate neighborhood. For example, Rosewood Landing homes are compared to Rosewood Landing homes. Riverfront homes are compared to riverfront homes, Davis Square homes to Davis Square homes, etc. Cottage Park homeowners will pay the same HOA dues as the rest of the community, and the addition of a new pool amenity area will offer all the residents of River Bluffs choices.
In addition to Cottage Park, we will be offering townhomes around the marina area. These will be three to four stories with a typical building containing three homes, and most of the homes will have tremendous views of the river. Pricing for these homes will start around $400,000, and homeowners will pay the same HOA dues as the other owners in River Bluffs; in addition to dues required for maintenance, insurance and reserves for the buildings themselves. While we are further along with the Cottage Park product, you can expect to see construction start on the first townhomes this calendar year. The road to the marina should be completed sometime within the next sixty days.
The other part of the meeting this past week addressed the issue of unpleasant odors that sometimes occur around the community. They usually show up early in the morning when there are overcast skies and cool weather. Several residents, in addition to River Bluffs management, have done a great deal of research on the issue and at least one of the primary sources is the Fortron plant located on Highway 421 across the river. The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Division of Air Quality has been working with the plant for over twenty years in an effort to reduce or eliminate the odor. This is not a River Bluffs problem but rather a southeastern North Carolina problem as it impacts all areas of Brunswick and New Hanover counties. It does appear that the frequency of events has increased over 2018 and the Division of Air Quality is aware of this. During the meeting, we discussed several rules around noxious odors are being considered for modification and the time for public comment on these proposed changes runs until February 15th. At the annual meeting next Tuesday evening (6:00pm at Porches), we will have handouts available that will include the information of who to send your comments to and several bullet points to consider including in your correspondence. The best thing we can all do is to report incidents of odor to the Division of Air Quality. There are two ways to do this. The first is to call the main number of the Division at 910-796-7234. You should indicate where you live, the time you noticed the odor, the weather conditions at the time you noticed it and if possible, the wind direction. The second, and arguably more effective, way to report an incident is to e-mail two individuals at the Division of Air Quality. The first is Brad Newland at brad.newland@ncdenr.org and the second is the Director of the local division, Michael Abraczinskas at michael.abraczinskas@ncdenr.org. While all calls to the Division are logged, e-mailing provides a much better paper trail for all of us. The same details that I noted above should be included in your e-mail. River Bluffs is committed to working on this issue in conjunction with our residents and other neighborhoods in the region.
In addition to being a really fun event, our Holiday Golf Cart Parade helped a very worthy organization in our area. Thanks to your generosity, close to $500 was raised which will help the Carousel Center offer services to children in need throughout our area. A special thanks to the event’s organizers; Donna Bost, Linda Emmerich, Cathy Jo Michaelis, and our very own Karen Clow.
Neighborhood Amenities
As you have probably noticed, a tremendous amount of work has been done along the bluff in an effort to both help stabilize it and create favorable conditions for more plant growth. While the work within the river bed is done, you will continue to see grading, planting, and other work along the bluff itself over the next several months. We have already confirmed with the marine contractor for October 1 to install the pilings for at least two more “T” heads at the marina which will add at least 26 additional slips. The new fitness equipment is in the vendor’s warehouse locally, and we expect installation to occur sometime in the next week or so. We received a report of some issues with some of the existing equipment and we will have that serviced when they install the new pieces.
Neighborhood Safety
We appreciate those of you have controlled your speed along Chair Road, but unfortunately, we continue to receive calls from residents about other residents choosing to go the wrong way down one-way streets and speeding throughout the neighborhood. We will continue to stress to the builders and contractors the need to be good visitors, and we appreciate your help with this as well. As the recent Community Watch post noted, the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Department will be running radar along Chair Road more frequently. The latest post also touched on the upcoming Sheriff’s Citizens Academy which will start February 19th and run through April 30th. If you are interested in attending you can learn more at www.newhanoversheriff.com/citizens-academy. Both Alan Morris and Jane Love are graduates of the program and highly recommend it.
Another point that relates to safety and quality of life has to do with our four-legged friends. Please be sure to clean up after your pets as failing to do so impacts your neighbors and guests. Thanks for your help in keeping our community as natural as we can.
Activities
- As many of you know, our own Ritt Schiano is a docent at the USS North Carolina Battleship Museum. He is helping organize another “River Bluffs Battleship Day” on Sunday, February 17th. The plan is to meet at Porches at 12:30pm and head down for a 1:00pm tour. The tour is approximately three hours and covers nine different levels of the ship. If we get ten people interested the cost will be $21.40 per person, and we will need to collect the payment in advance. So far we have five residents signed up. If you are interested in attending, please e-mail me and drop off a check at the Sales Center, made payable to River Bluffs Development Corp, and we will then arrange for the paying the Museum as they require one payment for group tours.
- The band “Overtyme” will be back at Porches next Friday night, and they always draw a great crowd.
- Don’t forget that Nature’s Way Dry Cleaning offers pickup and delivery of your dry cleaning. If you are interested in utilizing this service, you can stop by the Sales Center to pick up an application.
- The HOA’s annual meeting will be held next Tuesday evening, February 5th, at 6:00pm at Porches. Premier Management will be providing updates on the Association’s financials, budget and overall status. Additionally, there will be a development report.
- Chef Erin Wiley will be hosting a cooking demo on Thursday, February 14th during which you can learn and eat at the same time! If you are interested, please contact Porches at 910-675-9090.
- You may have noticed the lack of posting from Farmer Steve. Unfortunately, he was injured in a farm-related accident at his other location in Teachey. He is recovering well and should be back “online” soon. The weekly market will continue, as will the CSA program.
Thank you all for choosing to make this unique community your home. People make a neighborhood and create the sense of community, and River Bluffs is living proof of that.
Have a great weekend.
John Lennon