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By Jim Buice
For the Clemmons Courier

Building on the momentum created by last year’s community-driven holiday tree lighting atop Wake Forest Baptist Health Davie Medical Center, the Town of Bermuda Run and volunteers are taking the next step in 2021 with “Christmas in the Town of Bermuda Run” on Dec. 5.

In fact, the lone action item on last Tuesday night’s town council agenda was the approval of a budget amendment to accept $7,000 from the Davie County Foundation as revenue and expend that amount for expenses related to the upcoming event.

“I was talking to one of the key players today, and she was telling me all the things that are going on,” said Mayor Rick Cross. “Trust me, this is going to be a big deal.”

Christmas in the Town of Bermuda Run will be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Town Square on Kinderton Boulevard. Festivities include an appearance from Santa along with games, crafts, music, treats, carriage rides and more.

The actual lighting of the Christmas tree will take place on Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. in a Facebook live event — several days before the latest “collaborative community event.”

Last year’s lighting of a 21-foot Christmas tree atop the local hospital was conceived by three Bermuda Run residents, Roseanne Peacock, Sharon Reid and Christy Schafer — dubbed by Cross as the “Tree-O” — in an attempt to lift spirits and bring joy in the midst of the continuing pandemic.

Town Manager Lee Rollins, in his comments to council, said that the $7,000 provided to town came from a designated fund within the foundation called the Bermuda Run Community Vision Fund.

“Part of the genesis of that came from a gentleman by the name of Kent Matthewson, who was a Bermuda village resident and very much a proponent of looking after the Bermuda Run area and how it may grow and thrive over time,” Rollins said. “A couple of months ago, you appointed a group of residents representing all of our residential communities and business communities and council person (Heather) Coleman, who is also on that Bermuda Run Community Vision Fund committee, to look at a Christmas at Bermuda Run event.”

Rollins added that since this wasn’t a budgeted transaction when the budget was approved in May, a budget amendment was required — which was his recommendation.

Also in the Nov. 9 meeting, Rollins said that the town received four bids for the Blue Heron Trail project, adding the engineer’s estimate was roughly $1.8 million with another $234,000 for construction administration, which is required for federal highway-funded projects.

Rollins said that the high bid was $4.5 million, and the low bid was $2.8 million.

“So looking at a little over $2 million that we had estimated for the project, I’ve asked our town engineer and LJB, which is our sub-consultant, to compare those line-item qualities from our engineer’s estimate with the bid tab calculation that came in and then to review that with DOT representatives to find out what they’re seeing with their process,” he said. “My goal is to come back to you within the next 30 days with some options on what you may want to do for additional funding for maybe some golden nugget that says we’ve found a way to lower costs to make the project work. There could be opportunities where we might be able to remove some items out of the project.”

In the public comments portion of the meeting, Paul Dixon, who lives on Kilbourne Drive in Kinderton Village, reported a recent issue involving excessive noise coming from nearby RISE on Oct. 22.

On that night, Dixon said that residents heard “very loud music” starting around 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. and going to 2 a.m. He added that some homes in the neighborhood are only 100 feet from the RISE, a massive 123,000-square-foot, multi-sports complex that opened earlier this year.

“We made complaints with the authorities,” Dixon said. “We were communicating amongst ourselves that night. I checked on Facebook and there were over 100 comments during that time period. This was a serious disturbance to our neighborhood. I want to thank the mayor and town manager for their response. They addressed it quickly with a letter to Kinderton Village residents and with the RISE management. We all want RISE to be successful, but we also want them to be a good neighbor.”

In other highlights from last Tuesday night’s meeting, the council:

• Heard from Rollins that the planting of the new Nellie Stevens hollies along Ivy Circle will take place the first three weeks in December.

• Also heard from Rollins that data has been collected for the Phase II stormwater study, adding the purpose of the study modeling was to look at any potential for increased stormwater coming from Hillsdale at Bermuda Run — the area just west of N.C. 801 — as the town prepares for potential development in that area.

• Heard from Cross that work on the Comprehensive Plan update will begin in earnest in January.

• Heard a presentation on Davie County Public Utilities from Johnny Lambert, utilities director.