July 12, 2022
MDI has recently purchased the 66-acre tract that adjoins River Bend. Please read in the attached Fact Sheet from the town of Granite Falls that there is a clearly stated deed restriction that prevents this property from being developed into a tractor-trailer or truck depot.
There was also an MDI expansion announcement on July 12, 2022, by Governor Cooper. This is an expansion by MDI to add perishable foods capacity at their site on Alex Lee Blvd which is adjacent to New Farm Road. The 66-acre tract purchase and the expansion announcement are unrelated.
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November 1, 2021
Update on HOA Committees from Doug Johnson, President
Several weeks ago, I sent an update on our HOA Committees and I want to provide some additional information to you and to encourage more members to volunteer to serve. To date, here is an overview of our committees and their rosters:
Strategic Planning (roster full)
Tim Dillow, Chair
Christy Cubbage
Kristen Sanders
Todd Campbell
Chloe Pilgrim
Danette Landrum, Financial Modeling
Doug Johnson, Board liaison
Lake Access and Boat Storage (roster full)
Jim Donohue, Chair
Mike Flo, Vice-Chair
Becky Boyce
Jeff Matlock
Jon Tucker
Andy Fay
Bo Cecil, Board liaison
Welcoming & Activities (roster full)
Debbie Longo, Chair
Lisa Campbell
Dawn Dillow
Teresa Johnson
Danette Landrum, Board liaison
Landscaping and Beautification
Kristen Sanders, Chair
Mike Abernathy, Vice-Chair
Jason Lingle
Rachel Greene
Tim Warren
Deb Chernesky, Board liaison
Clubhouse and Amenities
Volunteers to date:
Kristen Cubbage
Andy Anderson
George Andrea
Don Edwards
Ken Church, Board liaison
Ken is currently working to secure additional volunteers to fill the roster.
Security and Safety
Ted Brothers
Doug Johnson, Board liaison
Doug is currently working to secure additional volunteers to fill the roster.
Additional information:
Strategic Planning Committee: Has completed initial work on the River Bend Strategic Plan and will reconvene next year (2022) to add initiatives as identified by committees. (Copy of the draft plan attached.)
Lake Access and Boat Storage: Has begun meetings and plans to have initial recommendations to the board soon. We will update again once we have this information.
Welcoming & Activities: Has been meeting for several months and has been sending welcome letters and information to new members and for the Annual Meeting they did a meet and greet at the door plus provided bottled water and candy. (Thanks Debbie and Joe Longo for providing this!)
If you are interested in serving on a “roster full” committee, please let the Chair of that committee know or email the board on our website. When member turnover occurs, we will need additional member volunteers.
If you are interested in serving on the Clubhouse and Amenities
Committee, please contact Ken Church, kenchurch@charter.net or email the board on our website.
For the Security and Safety Committee please contact Doug Johnson djohnson@blueridgeenergy.com or email the board on our website.
Please consider volunteering for a committee!
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Question for SkyBest Communications: How much trenching versus boring will there be at River Bend?
Response from Robbie Farmer at SkyBest: We don’t really trench. The cable is placed with a vibratory plow which speeds up progress and minimizes damage. We bury as deep as possible while minimizing ground disturbance. We locate existing utilities and work with homeowners about specific items of concern like water lines, sprinklers, etc. Main cable is typically between 24” to 36” deep and service drops are usually a little more shallow so as to minimize lawn and landscaping damage. The target for main cable is 24” in a private development like yours. Drops probably average 14” to 18”deep. Our crews and engineers take great pains to avoid issues-working with individual homeowners. With the vibratory plow, after a couple of weeks, you can hardly tell where we were. River Bend calls for 3,252’ of boring and just over 23,000’ of plowing.
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We have a lot going on in our community, so the board wanted to provide this newsletter to help all our HOA members to be informed about the status of projects and initiatives. If you have questions or comments please let us know by responding to this email from Sammy Williams or sending the board an email through the website.
– We’ve had a few members ask about serving on the Board of Directors of our HOA. Currently our Bylaws allow five board members. The five individuals currently serving were appointed by the remaining board members when the turnover occurred from Gunpowder, LLC over a year ago. The Bylaws were written with a Developer’s perspective and they do not include normal governance processes like a Nominating Committee, Director terms or a Credentials and Elections Committee (voting process oversight). But the Bylaws do call for an annual election to be held at the Annual Meeting. We are planning to conduct the director election at the Annual Meeting on October 5th and anyone who is interested in having their name on the ballot and running for the board should submit their name and their bio information to any board member or to our Community Manager, Sammy Williams.
– At the Annual Meeting we need to discuss a plan for how we should proceed with a re-write of our Bylaws, but keep in mind it could have a fairly significant legal cost to achieve. We are engaging in a discussion with our attorney, Tim Swanson, with Young, Morphis, Bach & Taylor, LLP to get an estimate on cost. Mr. Swanson plans to attend our Annual Meeting in October to answer any legal questions and to assist us with the Bylaws discussion. You can see a copy of our current Bylaws and Declarations here. Please share any thoughts, recommendations or comments about this re-write with your HOA board.
– The HOA board worked closely with SkyBest and our Manager, Sammy Williams, to provide a contact list regarding internet service to SkyBest for emails and calls. One section (White Fawn Circle area) of River Bend has very inadequate broadband service and we are trying to get enough interest to make SkyBest’s business case work. Our community survey identified this as an important strategic priority. SkyBest will need 40 services in order to provide base service of 500mbps symmetrical service at $85 per month. SkyBest is a local company owned by SkyLine Telecommunications, they operate as a not-for-profit cooperative headquartered in Ashe County. Their use of our contact list is for this one-time effort and it will not be shared with any other third parties. As of June 30, 2021 SkyBest had 25 of the 40 signed agreements that are needed. We have also asked SkyBest to give us a quote on providing security cameras for our Entrance Island street. Several homeowners have asked if SkyBest provides other services like cable tv and landline telephone. We asked them to give us more information on additional services and the following is their response:
SkyBest Communications wants to keep you connected! In addition to super-fast fiber-optic internet, you can enjoy a variety of digital TV options starting at $44 per month and home phone service starting at $14.99 per month. Add HD, premium movie packs or advanced calling features and enjoy the convenience of one bill. Call Shauna Powers at 336-876-6229 or email shauna.powers@skyline.org to build a package that meets your needs. Don’t forget to ask about SkyBest Security!
– We are continuing to work with Turf Pro on the schedule for finishing the entrance island project. With the hot temperatures we are now experiencing we have decided to postpone planting any more trees or shrubbery for a few more weeks. Here is what remains to be completed: 3 trees behind the wall, irrigation boring under the street for the common area behind the island, sod and shrubbery on the common area and cleaning up the adjacent woods, landscaping around the two original walls, Action Sign is coming to straighten the letters on the wall and installing security cameras for the entrance (this will be installed within the next couple of weeks).
– These items are being worked on that were not part of the original plan: repairing the top of the original walls and sealing the columns and walls to stop water erosion from continuing, signage that says No large trucks or trailers in traffic circle and a timber guard rail on the back of the island to reduce and prevent damage by large trucks—you can see what a timber guard rail looks like in the Waterfront Harbor development.
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June 23, 2021
Update Facts on the Entrance Island project:
– All 153 home and lot owners were billed the entrance island assessment. We have now received 136 payments, or 88%, of the billed payments for the Special Assessment for the entrance island (see attachment).
– Everything on the island is new. We utilized nothing from the old sign, the letters on it were acrylic paint, not aluminum, and the typestyle for the logo was dated (see Action Sign attachment).
– When all invoices are received we will post an actual cost versus budget analysis that will include all contractor/vendor costs paid.
– Turf Pro reviewed the sod on Wednesday morning and one section is not taking root because it got too hot after it was dug. Turf Pro is coming Thursday to replace this section at no additional charge because the Sod Farm agreed they sent damaged turf. Keep in mind that turf planted in June will not look as good initially as sod planted in the spring or fall, but it will look good by fall and especially so by next spring.
Lettering, Final Specs, Pricing
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April 15, 2021
Dear Fellow River Bend Residents and Property Owners,
We have several issues that we want to share with you. First, we realized that the $275 assessment might not be well received by all property owners. For months we wrestled with the issue of how to restore our entrance areas to a first-class condition. Earlier we shared the cost estimates which totaled $38,000. We simply did not have that amount in our account. By using some of our account balance and adding the $275 assessment fee we can get the project funded. Our dues have been $30 per month for the past 20 plus years and the board believes any future increase in monthly dues should be aligned with our strategic vision and plans and would need to be approved in advance by the HOA. We also realize that some owners prefer a member vote before an assessment is approved by the board. While this isn’t currently required in our Bylaws or Declarations we are listening to these concerns and we have no plans for any further assessments at this time.
Secondly, we have changed our landscaping plan. Twenty years ago we had a huge amount of mowing. Today, much of our land is developed and privately owned which means we have much less mowing. In order to control our expenses for mowing and landscaping we have converted from a monthly contract to an hourly fee arrangement with Turf Pro. We will examine this arrangement in the next year to determine if it meets our quality and appearance improvement goals and to ensure it is affordable for our current dues budget. This was an extremely difficult decision for us. Townsend Landscaping is a good company and the Townsend brothers are good people. Again, we will continue to look for ways to control costs while also upgrading the appearance of our islands, common areas and roadsides. (The Turf Pro Contract is attached to this email.)
Additional Updates:
1.)
The entrance island improvement work is running behind schedule. Our rock mason has experienced some health issues with an employee that has caused him to get behind on his schedule. We are his next priority and we are hoping he will be coming back soon to work on the wall for our sign. This needs to be completed first before we do the landscaping work. We are also working with the Town of Granite Falls about getting a water meter installed for irrigation and underground power in place so we can operate the irrigation controller and for up-lighting of the wall/sign. We are also discussing with Turf Pro the possibility of getting the landscape plantings in place on the common area behind the entrance circle, we will let you know soon when this may begin.
2.)
We have discussed with Granite Falls the possibility of getting another “No Large Trucks or Trailers” sign that would be located closer to the
entrance. We will provide progress updates on this item too.
3.)
The roadside property from the Assisted Living facility to New Farm Road will be negotiated in a separate contract because we are asking the Grace Village management and the Waterfront Harbor developer to consider assisting with the cost of mowing this property every two weeks. River Bend HOA has been paying for this maintenance and the board believes it is unfair for us to pay for this without assistance from others that benefit too.
4.)
The next meeting of the River Bend board is set for Tuesday April 20th—please let us know if there are any items that you would like for us to review or discuss.
Sincerely,
Your River Bend Board of Directors
Andy Anderson, Chairman
Ken Church
Nancy Iasiello
Doug Johnson
Danette Landrum
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March 17, 2021
Dear River Bend Home and Lot Owners,
After a long wait and a lot of planning work we have completed the design of the River Bend entrance island. We have contracted with Turf Pro to install the plants, flowers, trees and overall landscaping including turf, irrigation and lighting. Special thanks to Doug Johnson, Ken Church and Todd Campbell for their work to date on this project. Our sign has been designed by Action Sign Company to fit our new stone wall. The wall and stone work will be done by John Lutz who has a reputation for being one of, if not the best, stone mason in our area. The stone selected will closely match that used in our existing entrance walls.
When you view the attached rendering pay special attention to the fact that our entrance will also have a backdrop on our property directly behind the island which will provide depth and beauty from all sides. When it all comes together as we expect over the next few weeks, it will be just what we need to project the “Premiere Lake Hickory Community” that we are. The total cost of all of the components in the rendering will range between $38,000 and $40,000. I have also attached a Power Point budget to this email. In order to pay for this work our HOA Board has approved a one- time assessment of $275 per home and lot with a discount given for those who choose to pay in the first 30 days. Also please view the video rendering on the link provided. When complete this project will be a transformational change for River Bend. Click here for video.
Hats off to our Strategic Planning team chaired by Tim Dillow and facilitated by HOA Vice-Chair, Doug Johnson. They have worked for months to provide a detailed vision for River Bend based on your responses to the community survey. We will be sharing more information about the Strategic Plan later this spring/summer. The five themes that came out of our survey have become our Strategic Opportunities: 1) Landscaping and Beautification; 2) Safety and Security; 3) Lake Access and Boat Storage; 4) Amenities 5) Community Activities.
I hope that you are pleased with what I believe will be the first in many positive changes for River Bend.
Best regards,
Andy Anderson
Chairman, River Bend HOA Board
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January 2021
River Bend Members:
As I understand the community, part of the community has internet through Spectrum, but a number of homes do not have high speed internet. Skyline/SkyBest Communications is an internet company that is building out broadband service at Plantation Point with fiber optic cable. They have expressed an interest in River Bend and I need for you to express your interest. Below is the information provided by them for your review. Obviously, the monthly fee would be based on the quantity of subscribers. If you have an interest, please let me know by emailing me with your name and address. I will compile this information and give the SkyBest.
Thanks,
Sammy
Company Introduction
SkyLine Membership Corporation (SkyLine) is a telephone cooperative based in West Jefferson, North Carolina. We have provided service as an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) to northwest North Carolina and northeast Tennessee for more than 65 years. SkyBest Communications, Inc. (SkyBest) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SkyLine that provides the deregulated services in SkyLine’s service area as well as being a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
SkyLine/SkyBest currently provides telephone service to over 30,000 subscribers, broadband Internet service to over 25,000 subscribers, and video service to over 10,000 subscribers. SkyLine/SkyBest has completely overbuilt FTTP infrastructure throughout SkyLine’s ILEC area, and is consistently adding fiber to SkyBest CLEC areas each year. SkyBest has been providing video over FTTP technology since 2008. SkyLine/SkyBest currently serves customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. We work with commissions at the Federal and State levels to ensure compliance with all Federal and State regulations.
SkyLine/SkyBest is one of the first rural-based companies nationwide certified by NTCA—the Rural Broadband Association as a Gig-Capable Internet Service Provider. The company offers a wide range of services, including broadband internet including symmetrical Gig (1 Gig/1Gig), voice services, digital TV, business solutions and equipment, hosted services and solutions, medical alert, monitored security and surveillance systems. SkyBest maintains and operates over 250 FTTP Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) throughout our footprint, utilizing both PON and Active Ethernet technology. These OLT’s combine to serve over 20,000 locations with FTTP service today.
Conversion Overview
If SkyLine/SkyBest were a provider in River Bend our technicians would manage the conversion process from a homeowners existing provider to the extent possible. This would include any wiring modifications or equipment installations necessary. Typically most recently built homes are wired with Cat5 or Cat6 Ethernet cable and the wiring process for our services is minimal. However, depending on how a home is wired we do have to pull new wires on occasion. The installation fees are typically waived as part of a deployment in a development like River Bend.
Not being under contract with the existing provider definitely helps. On some occasions the legacy provider learns that a new provider with a more advanced network is building in an area they serve and the incumbent will begin offering deals for long-term contracts. This is often an attempt to keep their customers as long as they can and make it more difficult for the customer to move to the new provider.
Our base Internet speed is 300Mbps symmetrical and we offer a robust WiFi-6 router as part of our basic Internet package as well. If customers already have a router they are happy with our technicians will connect our services to that router and make sure it works to the customers satisfaction.
Conditions, Fees & Service Terms
Much of the information about the conditions, fees and service terms are attached in examples of our Broadband Service Agreement and our HOA service agreement. Keep in mind these are just examples – we can tailor things to meet specific needs. We typically provide service to communities like River Bend in one of three ways – Direct with the HOA (HOA pays for service throughout the development and we only bill the HOA), Direct with each homeowner (HOA helps us garner a satisfactory take rate so that our business plan works) or an Aid-To-Construction fee (HOA pays a predetermined amount so that the business plan will work and customers then pick and choose the provider they want – no minimum take rate required). However, we are very flexible and will work to create a plan that works best for River Bend. We understand that each situation us unique.
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Nov. 18, 2020
Dear River Bend Homeowners and Property Owners,
The River Bend HOA Board has been working on a new landscape design for our entrance island. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time to do design, community communications, budgeting and implementation. So we have approved a Phase One for the island to improve the appearance while we complete the Phase 2 Master Plan.
This first phase will begin this week and will include:
- Cleaning up the island by removing excess dirt, silt fencing, rocks, etc.
- Installing a 24″-30″ stained concrete sidewalk inside the rear one-third perimeter of the island which will accommodate trucks, landscaping trailers, etc. from tearing up our island when they come around the roundabout.
- Covering the island with compost to enrich the soil for a Spring planting during our Master Plan implementation and a light coat of mulch.
- The excess dirt from the island will be placed on the common area behind the island that opens up to Winwood Circle. This area will be landscape screened later in the Phase 2 Master Plan.
- Removal of the stump at the rock wall, raking and mulching of this area for the winter.
The expected cost of Phase 1 is estimated at $4,500-5,000. The HOA has adequate dollars in the checking account to handle this expense and the board has authorized this expenditure.
As soon as we have the Phase 2 Master Plan completed we will share it with everyone in the HOA. This will include the estimated cost and a funding plan. The overall goal for your board is to present our development as a Premier Lakefront Community! Please let us know if you have questions or comments.
For River Bend,
Your Board of Directors
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Oct. 26, 2020
The Board of Directors has appointed the following members to serve on the River Bend HOA Strategic Planning Committee:
- Tim Dillow, Chairman
- Doug Johnson, Board liaison
- Danette Landrum, Financial Modeling/Budgeting
- Chloe Pilgrim
- Leah Beth Hubbard
- Christy Cubbage
- Rev. Kristen Sanders
- Todd Campbell
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