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CLEMMONS — When Amy Flyte was hired last year as the new assistant manager of the village of Clemmons, she brought with her a background as the senior planner in Davie County.

That experience is paying off in her new role in Clemmons as the council recently held a special meeting in September to follow up an earlier retreat with updates on a variety of issues, including collaborative planning and strategic planning with neighboring municipalities,

Flyte advised in the retreat that there are ongoing meetings taking place with the staffs from Lewisville and Bermuda Run to work together on projects, planning and issues affecting the three communities. 

She gave the council some ideas based on what other communities/municipalities have in place. She also provided a list of complimentary amenities from the surrounding areas to avoid duplication — except for highly desired activities. 

“Clemmons does not exist in a silo so we are making a priority to maximize opportunities with our neighbors,” Flyte said. “I came to Clemmons after doing planning in Bermuda Run and Davie County, so I have maintained my connections with the town. I speak with (Town Manager) Andrew Meadwell regularly about issues that impact our towns — for example, potential traffic conflicts between Truist Sports Park and Tanglewood. 

“(Town Manager) Mike Gunnell and I have been holding meetings with James (Ayers, town manager) and Stacy (Tolbert, assistant town manager and planner) in Lewisville to discuss similar topics and how to improve the sharing of information between our two towns. Clemmons and Lewisville are a great complement to each other, and staff is continuously working to better those relationships.”

The Clemmons special meeting also included updates in a number of different areas: Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), Nuisance Violations, Minimum Housing, Solid Waste Collection, U-6004 (Lewisville-Clemmons Road improvements), Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Projects, Greendale Park and Leaf Collection.

Here are some highlights:

Leaf collection — Public Works Director Steve Gearren provided information on improvements requested to the salt brine shed, leaf storage shed and vehicle shed two weeks before the item was brought before the council.

Low bids for the salt brine shed ($80,952) and leaf storage shed ($59,781) were approved because they were considered “high priorities” by the council while the vehicle shed ($79,833) was denied.

Gearren said that during leaf collection season weekly updates will be communicated to residents via website, Facebook and NextDoor to inform them at the end of each week on where collection has been and will be starting the following week.

Greendale Park — Gunnell talked about a culvert replacement that would be in the works soon. In the last council meeting, he reported that the project would need to be rebid in October after an error with the low bid and ultimate rejection of all bids.

In the special meeting, Gunnell advised that he had received feedback from approximately 50 percent of the neighbors on the street of their interest in keeping Greendale Park. He added that the gazebo and asphalt also need work, so any improvements will likely take place in the spring. 

Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) — Doug Moore, planning director, reviewed the different types of development code strategies. Planner Caroline Drake updated the council on the land use Inventory and advised that for the amount of information involved, the timeline will be two to three years to coordinate with the Comprehensive Plan. 

Minimum Housing — Council consensus was to get attorney Al Benshoff to proceed with drafting a Minimum Housing Ordinance for their consideration. 

Solid Waste Collection — Gunnell pointed out that the current contract expires in June 2024 and the options would be to re-negotiate with Waste Management or to send out a request for proposal (RFP). He spoke about what would be involved in bringing it in-house and the amount of time involved.

Ultimately, council consensus was to direct Gunnell to send out an RFP for Solid Waste Collection and gather a cost estimate for what bringing it in-house would be. 

U-6004 (Lewisville-Clemmons Road) — Gunnell said that ongoing meetings with NCDOT regarding U-6004 are continuing with construction drawings at 25 percent. They hope to have full construction drawings by the beginning of the year.

Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Projects — Flyte said that the traffic light at Holder Road had been submitted for local agreements. She also added that the sidewalk projects on Harper Road are moving along.