Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Although final details have yet to be confirmed, Mayor Rick Cross announced in last Tuesday night’s Bermuda Run Town Council meeting that the town will receive $6 million in funding from the recently passed state budget.

Cross thanked House Rep. Julia Howard from Davie County and Sen. Steve Jarvis from Davidson County for their assistance.

Following the meeting, Town Manager Andrew Meadwell said, “We haven’t gotten our ‘official funding letters’ from the state yet, so we don’t know exactly where the state is funding these requests from. Until we get those, it’s premature to discuss in any real detail.”

However, Meadwell did confirm that the windfall was coming from the House Bill 259 Appropriations Act. He expects the town to receive more information on the specifics in November or early December.

In action items on the agenda, the council approved amendments to corrected items from the Comprehensive Plan that were not fully incorporated into the Future Land Use Map and the land-use designations descriptions, along with correcting some spelling and grammatical errors.

Council member Mike Brannon made the motion, including this explanation: “The land-use classification is predominantly intended to foster a low-density, single-family residential use, as well as the preservation of existing agricultural land uses. The Rural Residential Land Use Designation has been applied to the northern portion of the Planning Area, along with Yadkin Valley Road and eastward toward the Yadkin River.”

The motion passed unanimously.

In the manager’s report, Meadwell said that the town had studied several options and designs with engineers to incorporate a pedestrian element within the existing street structure in Bermuda Run East and decided to move forward with Option 5, as discussed in September’s agenda meeting.

“The council has discussed the possibility of pedestrian ways within Bermuda Run East for several years,” Meadwell said. “The streets there were not designed to accommodate pedestrian ways, resulting in residents’ only option to either walk, run, or bike in the street travel ways, which is a safety concern.”

In another item on the agenda, the town and Davie County announced their preference to transfer ownership of the assets associated with the Juniper Circle Pump station as part of the funding agreement, which was approved. The interlocal deal states that Davie County will compensate and reimburse the town $1.8 million for the rights to the asset while allowing the town to lease the property for operations and facility maintenance.

The council also agreed for the 2023-2024 general fund budget to be amended to accept $11,000 from the Davie County Community Foundation as revenue and expend that amount for expenses related to the 2023 Christmas in the Town of Bermuda Run and Food Truck Friday.

In other highlights from last Tuesday night’s meeting, the council:
• Kindly remembered the family of Ken Peacock, a former town council member and the chancellor of Appalachian State from 2004 to 2014, who died Oct. 6. The council approved making a donation in Peacock’s memory to the Murray Family ACCESS Scholarship Program, which was created during his tenure to help low-income N.C. students achieve the dream of getting a college education. Students who earn a place at App State and are selected for the ACCESS scholarship and support program have the opportunity to graduate debt-free.
• Heard from Trish Williams of Kinderton Village, who shared her concerns during citizen comments regarding the lack of the number of exits out of Kinderton Village in case of emergency — using the recent fires in Maui as an example.
• Heard from Vera Williamson of Advance in comments prior to the public hearing requesting that the verbiage “lots with a minimum size of two acres” be added back to the Comprehensive Plan. She added that she attended the Planning Board meeting and felt that there was confusion among the members.
• Approved joining Davie County and the Town of Mocksville in support of Operation Green Light for Veterans after a request by Meagan Tomlin, Davie County Veteran Services officer.