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By Jim Buice

It’s almost been a year since the official news broke that Clemmons had announced an intent to purchase 12.43 acres of land from Novant Health adjacent to the Village Point Greenway and Fishing Pier for $2,235,600.

That followed Mayor Mike Rogers announcing in a council meeting in September 2023 that Clemmons had been awarded $4.8 million in funding from the state’s Appropriations Act to use, for all intents and purposes, as the village best determined.

This all feeds into the long established goal of having some kind of Village Center, which was addressed in the 2010 Comprehensive Plan with this description: “At present, Clemmons lacks two assets enjoyed by many communities — a strong sense of place and a traditional pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use civic center. The concept of a Village Center is intended to help remedy both issues.”

Then there was this: “The final recommendation is to develop a future Village Center at the Village Point/Novant area north of I-40 because of its central location in the community, potential for public-private partnership and access to I-40.”

Yes, dreams can come true.

I remember those days when I first started covering the Village Council in 2009 for the Courier when the Comprehensive Plan was in the works and thinking where could the board possibly find the land to pull this off as Clemmons continued to grow at a rapid rate and, if so, at what exorbitant price.

And now, here we are — in the midst of meeting a commitment to preserve open space and enhance community recreational opportunities while providing room for more amenities thanks to this golden opportunity.

Some of the possibilities mentioned after the initial announcement regarding uses for the prime piece of real estate in a perfect location in the village included relocation of Village Hall, the Clemmons Farmers Market, Clemmons Community Policing Officers and perhaps some sort of amphitheater or events facility.

The first visible step came to light in a council meeting last October for a versatile facility at the greenway at Village Point that would house two spaces each for the Forsyth County Sheriff’s office staff and village staff, a break area for deputies and a shared conference room. The building, to be located on Lot 6 at Village Point, called for 1,665 square feet on each floor with a grade-level porch and upper-level deck, along with toilet spaces for the office, an outdoor storage space and toilets for the nearby walking trail. 

That checks a lot of boxes for having a visible police presence in the middle of town and adding room to address the needs of the current Village Hall on U.S. 158 that is stretched beyond its limits — along with providing other important amenities in what has developed over the years into a spectacular retail area.

Mike Gunnell, the village manager, said that the building is in design now with a target date of having it submitted for permitting in March with hopes of starting construction in the summer in a location just beyond the Village Point Greenway and Fishing Pier where there is a section of woods. 

Then in last week’s village council meeting, another potential cost-saving breakthrough was introduced when Amy Flyte, assistant manager, added a last-minute item to the agenda regarding substantial grant money being available for a farmers’ market structure that could be part of the property acquired last year along the Village Point Greenway.

Flyte said that the farmers’ market manager, Lynette Fox, discovered this possible funding source through the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. Flyte then prioritized working on submitting a grant request in advance of a deadline in hopes of receiving feedback to improve the village’s chances of making a strong case to receive $800,000  — with Clemmons only needing to commit a 20 percent match of $200,000.

“This is envisioned to be a multi-purpose structure, an open-air kind of place, but this would get our vendors and visitors out of the uneven parking lot (at the current site, the Jerry Long Family YMCA), provide ADA capacity and get power out there so you wouldn’t have to use generators. Power also means we could have WiFi, where we would allow EBT to be an accepted form of payment.

“We won’t hear back from this until the end of the year, but it would will help us branch out like to do some kind of winter market, maybe do some night markets, but we can’t do that if don’t control the facility. And we have some space now.”

That grant would be huge in saving $800K other needs in the available acreage and as Gunnell said, “We’re still going to reach out to everybody on the who, what and where everything can go. Then if it’s everybody else’s desire to have an amphitheater, then we could also provide parking for that. We do need to hire a consultant and send out a survey to the public. That’s all coming up sometime in the spring.”

And it’s all happening right in the “Village Center.”