The election for the Historic Triangle’s Virginia Senate District 24 seat is more than a year off, but a prominent state labor official has already filed to run against incumbent Republican Sen. J.D. “Danny” Diggs.

Diggs, who left a 45-year career in law enforcement-- including Sheriff for York County and Poquoson -- narrowly defeated Democrat Monty Mason by one percentage point in 2023.

Jason Parker, the president of the Virginia State Building and Construction Trades Council, has filed paperwork to run against Diggs in the November 2027 election.

The Virginia Scope political newsletter first reported the news.

Scope also reported potential interest in the race from Del. Mark Downey, who defeated Republican incumbent Chad Green to take the 69^th district in the House of Delegates this year. We did not have time to hear from Downey before our deadline.

Parker is also the secretary-treasurer of the Virginia AFL-CIO, according to the union. He also serves as secretary-treasurer of the Hampton Roads Building and Construction Trades Council and Vice President of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1340 in Newport News.

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Recent talk about stormwater overflows led Williamsburg Watch to visit the wastewater treatment facility on the banks of the James River where everything you flush eventually ends up – and to see what happens when it rains.

The 40-acre facility, owned by the Hampton Roads Sanitation District, normally handles eight to nine million gallons of water every day from James City County, Williamsburg, and York County, we were told by Christopher A. Stephan, HRSD’s chief of North Shore interceptor operations. It’s located between Carters Grove plantation and the Anheuser Busch brewery, which sends about a million gallons a day of nutrient-rich waste from its beer fermentation.

Heavy rain can push that flow to 46 million gallons, Stephan said, but the facility has enough backup capacity to handle it. The problem has been with pumping stations operated by the James City County Service Authority, which can get overwhelmed with too much water pressure when a major rainfall happens.

In May there were four spills in James City County and one in Williamsburg, Stephan said.

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Williamsburg City Council members still favor building a new downtown library at an increased cost of $37.2 million, and the city’s financial advisor assured them the city can afford to pay the increased debt.

But the city’s financial advisor said council should consider moving $5 million set aside for the proposed live entertainment venue to help pay for the library, and city officials left it up to the agency that would own the venue to figure out how to pay for it. (see story below)

At council’s Monday afternoon work session, City Manager Michele DeWitt walked through how the price of the library rose from $26.1 million to its current guaranteed price.

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Correction. We have corrected the number in the second paragraph of this story to $7,800, not 10 times that number as we incorrectly reported due to a typo in the original email we received.

When Williamsburg City Council last reviewed the proposed $26.1 million downtown library last November, the contractors involved told Vice Mayor Pat Dent they would conservatively budget inflation cost increases of 3-5% a year. But the final proposal council will review today shows an all-in revised price tag of $37.2 million – a 42% increase.

City resident Bob Wilson, a retired executive who frequently speaks at council meetings to decry excessive spending and public debt, told city council in an I told you so letter that the ultimate cost to taxpayers, including financing, would amount to $61 million “or about $7,800 for each City Resident library card holder.”

According to a memorandum from City Manager Michele DeWitt, the increased costs were driven not just by inflation, but also by upgrades to the original library plan and the cost of furnishings and fixtures.

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Friday, Aug. 7

Add water supply worries to the list of hurdles two developers must clear this fall to get more than 1,700 homes approved by James City County, if the intense discussion at the county planning commission Wednesday night is indicative.

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Thursday, Aug. 6

York County will be asking voters in a November referendum if they want to raise the sales tax by up to a penny to help renovate the county’s aging schools. Now school officials are working on figuring out how big the tab could be.

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Wednesday, Aug. 5

Williamsburg-James City County schools released the latest tweaks to its redistricting map online Tuesday night, showing minor changes to some attendance zones.

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Tuesday, Aug. 4

James City County Administrator Scott Stevens has pitched space in the current county administration complex for a school board central office. But the school superintendent says the schools don’t need it.

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Monday, Aug. 3

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace’s new cruise missile plant was the subject of questions – and concerns -- at last week’s Town Hall by Supervisors Barbara E. Null and Tracy Wainwright. Here are some highlights shared by the facility’s project manager, Toano native Shawn Manning:

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Correction — we misidentified the speaker in paragraph 7 as Passero, it was Polster.

Add water supply worries to the list of hurdles two developers must clear this fall to get more than 1,700 homes approved by James City County, if the intense discussion at the county planning commission Wednesday night is indicative.

Four of the seven planning commissioners spent half an hour of their meeting worrying about the recent news that the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality may cut down the county’s groundwater allowance next year. County supervisors heard that last week, at the same time the regional wastewater agency will have to spend $43 million to $70 million to prevent sewage from contaminating water supplies during heavy rainstorms.

“It’s madness,” said at-large planning commissioner Jack Haldeman. He said the water and stormwater issues were just part of the cumulative impact of continued county growth, which he said would impact schools, traffic and the cost of government.

The planning commission voted earlier this year to recommend the board of supervisors approve development of Cardinal Ridge, a mixed-use community planned on surplus Eastern State Hospital land that would include 1,006 homes. Supervisors are scheduled to vote on that application next month. Commissioners deadlocked 3-3 on a recommendation for another mixed-use development in Croaker, The Bluffs at Kiskiack, that would include 704 homes. It comes up for a vote in October.

Haldeman, who voted against both projects, urged supervisors and county residents to read the recently published report from the Department of Environmental Quality casting doubts on the area’s water supply, which we have included below. He said it “shows the results of several generations of irresponsible, rapacious development with no consideration whatsoever to the environment, and that includes James City County.”

Jamestown commission member Frank Polster noted the county’s comprehensive plan predicts James City’s population is projected to grow from 81,000 to 125,000 in 20 years.

“That is going to have an impact,” Polster said. “It may not be in the schools but it will on the environment, it will be on the traffic, and it will be on the cost of government...as a planning commission, one of your jobs is to talk about what we want the future to look like, and look at these impacts.”

Stonehouse member Jay Everson threw in a more optimistic note, saying solutions could be found for the water problem.

James City County’s current permit allows it to draw 8.5 million gallons of groundwater a day, but it is only using about 5.5 million gallons a day, he said.

“To think that the end of the world for water is going to come –we will have a solution,” Everson said.

He said the county could purchase more water from Newport News waterworks, adding that the county’s landscaping ordinances require tree buffers that screen housing developments from site, helping it preserve a rural nature. He also said projections from the Williamsburg-James City County schools show attendance continuing to decline for the next decade.

Douglas Powell, the general manager of the James City County Service Authority that provides water and sewer services, told Williamsburg Watch that water from Newport News is treated with different chemicals from county groundwater, so the county would have to switch its treatment process or add some extra pipelines to use both water supplies.

The DEQ report said it was too early to tell whether a project by the Hampton Roads Sanitation District would reliably restore enough water to the Potomac Aquifer used for groundwater east of I-95. The program, known as SWIFT, is designed to inject up to 100 million gallons of purified wastewater back into the aquifer every day.

Haldeman and Polster disagreed with Everson that growth could continue without harm, even if the schools were not overcrowded, because of impact on traffic and the environment.

Powhatan Member Vincent Passero agreed with Everson that there was a solution to the water problem, but said it requires quick action.

“Twenty years is not a long time,” Passero said. “We need to start worrying about this water issue now and start building that infrastructure. If you wait till the point where you have to have it, you’re not going to have it.” (see short story about Passero’s regional solution later on in this newsletter.

Deq Sj25 Report Final

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By Rebecca Fuchs

York County will be asking voters in a November referendum if they want to raise the sales tax by up to a penny to help renovate the county’s aging schools. Now school officials are working on figuring out how big the tab could be.

York School Superintendent James Carroll told the board of supervisors at their workshop Tuesday that a facilities study, due by fall, will help determine when replacing aging school buildings becomes more cost-effective than major renovations.

Carroll said school officials aren’t recommending widespread replacement of its aging schools. York’s 18 schools are an average of 55 years old, and three of them are 72 years old, Carroll has said.

“We can’t replace them all, nor would I make that recommendation,” Carroll said. “But I think we just have to start thinking about it.”

Carroll explained that the school division’s approach to construction has been guided for more than three decades by a 1993 agreement between the school board and the board of supervisors that emphasizes expanding existing schools, using portable classrooms and redistricting students before constructing new facilities. Only one school has been built since the agreement was signed.

The schools’ chief financial officer, Bill Bowen, told supervisors the division’s current six-year capital improvement plan includes about $117 million in projects, including work at Tabb High School, Queens Lake Middle School and Waller Mill Elementary School. About $100 million would be financed through county-backed bonds.

School projects will account for 41% of all county capital spending over the next six years, County Administrator Mark Bellamy has said. He has said an extra penny in sales tax could generate $12 million a year, the equivalent of 9 cents in additional real estate taxes. But unlike real estate, tourists pay 25-30% of sales taxes, so they would be helping pay for the schools, Bellamy said.

Bowen said Queens Lake is already at capacity and needs additional classroom and common space, while Waller Mill is the elementary school most vulnerable to future enrollment growth. He estimated a new elementary school could cost $40 million to $50 million, a middle school $60 million to $100 million and a high school more than $100 million, depending in part on land costs.

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Williamsburg-James City County schools released the latest tweaks to its redistricting map online Tuesday night, showing minor changes to some attendance zones.

“This is not the final map” said Board Chair Andrea M. Donnor.

The schools will be emailing and texting a new survey to parents and students today so they can comment on the changes. A community online survey will also be available from Aug. 5 through Aug. 16.

Feedback will be considered in preparing a final attendance map in September, and the school board will vote on a decision Oct. 20.

The latest map makes no changes to attendance zones at Ford’s Colony, the largest subdivision in the area, whose elementary schools will be split between Matoaka and D. J. Montague along voting district lines.

But The Pointe at Jamestown, a much smaller neighborhood whose residents wanted their children to continue walking to Clara Byrd Baker elementary, would stay at Clara Byrd under the new map.

Kingspoint neighborhood, whose children attended Matthew Whaley, would be reassigned to Laurel Lane Elementary. Mirror Lakes and Wellington neighborhoods will no longer attend Stonehouse Elementary.

The Aug. 4 revision took into account feedback from parents, students, staff and community members to surveys that were conducted in June, officials said. But many of the requests to keep existing school assignments could not be accommodated without causing other issues, they said.

School Superintendent Daniel Keever explained every decision required balancing competing goals of maintaining neighborhood schools, using bus transportation effectively, maintaining diversity and avoiding under- or over-capacity situations at any of the schools.

“Redistricting is among the most challenging conversations a school division can undertake,” Keever said.

The redistricting, which would take effect in the fall of 2027, impacts 16% of the school system’s 11,103 students. It is the direct result of the planned opening of two Bright Beginnings early education schools in 2027.

That change will move prekindergarten students out of the five elementary schools where they are currently being taught, into two new dedicated buildings. The change will allow the schools to remove the modular classrooms used to handle overflow without overtaxing school capacity.

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James City County Administrator Scott Stevens has pitched space in the current county administration complex for a school board central office. But the school superintendent says the schools don’t need it.

Stevens made his comments last week during a town hall held by Supervisors Barbara E. Null and Tracy Wainwright. James City County will be moving out of its current Mounts Bay office complex when the new, $190 million government office center is completed off Longhill Rd.

“It is something we are talking about, but no decision has been made on what will be there yet...we are talking to other interested parties that might be able to use that space, the school division being one of those,” Stevens told a questioner.

The school division’s capital budget plans to spend $15.3 million from 2030 through 2032 to renovate the existing school board office adjacent to James Blair Middle School.

“We are looking to make modest refurbishments (roofing, flooring, office reconfigurations, and removal of hallway lockers) to our existing office complex,” Williamsburg-James City County School Superintendent Daniel Keever told Williamsburg Watch.

“The building the school central office in is older and needs more maintenance than the Mounts Bay campus,” Stevens said.

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Parents will get a look at the updated redistricting maps for Williamsburg-James City County schools Tuesday. But they probably won’t be dramatically different.

The Williamsburg-James City County school board will see the redistricting committee’s revision to the last set of zone maps at its work session Tuesday at the school board offices.

But population growth in the northern end of James City County, where Stonehouse Elementary is already over capacity, will make it impossible to address everyone’s wishes for a neighborhood school, James City County Supervisor Tracy Wainwright warned constituents at her town hall last week.

Stonehouse Elementary is already over its 772-pupil capacity, with more than 800 students this year, according to school figures. Enrollment would grow to 900 in five years if nothing is changed.

Matthew Whaley elementary is also above capacity, with more growth projected. D.J. Montague’s enrollment is projected to exceed capacity in 2028.

School administrators have been talking about redistricting for more than two years as they prepared for the opening of two Bright Beginnings early education schools in the next calendar year. That change will move prekindergarten students out of the five elementary schools where they are currently being taught into dedicated buildings.

The school board work sessions begin with a closed door meeting at 4 p.m. and the open session is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Both meetings take place Tuesday, Aug. 4 in Room 300 of the School Board & Central Office annex at 117 Ironbound Rd.

Wjcc School Work Session Agenda Aug

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Other government meetings this week:

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Friday, July 31

More than 100 residents of northern James City County crowded into a town hall put on by their supervisors Thursday night and pushed for a slowdown in development and lower real estate taxes.

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Thursday, July 30

Add one more worry for James City County supervisors to consider when approving new development. In addition to stormwater runoff, which spills sewage on extraordinarily rainy days, the state Department of Environmental Quality has issued a report that in a worst-case scenario may limit how much drinking water the county can draw from groundwater.

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Wednesday, July 29

More than two dozen boosters of the arts turned out to the James City County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday cheering the proposed $83.1 million performing arts venue. But the supervisors made clear they weren’t making any decisions yet.

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Tuesday, July 28

America’s 250^th anniversary has been good to Williamsburg, according to figures from the Virginia Tourism Corporation.

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Monday, July 27

Talk to Jamestown Supervisor Jim Icenhour about his skepticism of new housing developments in James City County, and he will bring up his study of Virginia counties and draw a U-shaped curve relating the cost of local government to population size.

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More than 100 residents of northern James City County crowded into a town hall put on by their supervisors Thursday night and pushed for a slowdown in development and lower real estate taxes.

The town hall at the Croaker library was sponsored by Stonehouse District Supervisor Barbara E. Null and Powhatan District Supervisor Tracy Wainwright, who have emerged as a board minority pushing back on county taxes and spending.

Town halls by supervisors are not official government meetings where votes are taken. But unlike a public hearing, where citizens do not engage in conversations with the supervisors, the town halls provide a question and answer format, with county staff on hand to answer specific questions.

Thursday evening covered a variety of resident concerns and questions. But the main topics returned to overdevelopment and taxes.

“When is enough, enough in terms of development in the upper part of the county?” said Bonnie Winston, a resident of the Elmwood subdivision. To the applause of most of the room, she urged the two supervisors to vote against the proposed Bluffs at Kiskiack development in Croaker, which would build 704 homes as well as mixed office and commercial space and house the Presidents Heads museum.

Residents outlined a litany of complaints brought on by rapid development, from crowded roads to dangerous intersections and crowded schools.

Jim Etchberger of Woodland Farms then turned the conversation to double digit growth in home assessments, which he said are raising taxes and pricing lifelong residents out of the county.

Null and Wainwright said the supervisors had discussed ways of capping assessment increases, and Null said she would be in favor of a Proposition 13 solution. Proposition 13 was approved in California in a 1978 voter referendum that capped both home assessments and property taxes, after decades of rapidly growing home prices.

“The other way to bring down your real estate taxes is to bring down county spending,” said Wainwright, to more applause from the room. “If you watch the (video of the meeting where the board approved the current county budget) Ms. Null and I were the only ones who asked for reductions in spending. And we were overruled.

“That is the only way to reduce your real estate tax rate, “ she said.

Residents also expressed concern about the impact in county water supplies from new construction.

Doug Powell, general manager of the James City Service Authority that runs water and sewer, said the county was in the process of renegotiating its permit to draw groundwater with the state Department of Environmental Quality.

He said if the new permit lowers the county’s permitted water draw, it would have to look at using treated wastewater, building a desalination plant at a cost of $250 million or more, or buying water from the Newport News Waterworks system.

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Add one more worry for James City County supervisors to consider when approving new development.

In addition to stormwater runoff, which spills sewage on extraordinarily rainy days, the state Department of Environmental Quality has issued a report that in a worst-case scenario may limit how much drinking water the county can draw from groundwater.

The department report on groundwater in Eastern Virginia, discussed in a Williamsburg Watch opinion piece by contributor Tommy Turner this week, casts doubts on the region’s efforts to add water to the underground Potomac Aquifer that provides the county’s drinking water.

That could create an issue when the county’s permit to withdraw groundwater comes up for renewal next February, says Douglas Powell, the general manager of the county water and sewer utility, the James City Service Authority.

“The way I interpret it is...there’s really limited, limited growth potential for the James City Service Authority to withdraw any more groundwater if these recommendations are approved,” Powell told the county Board of Supervisors, meeting Tuesday in their dual role as directors of the JCSA.

At issue is the state agency’s skepticism that a plan to add water back into the aquifer, known as SWIFT, could work reliably.

The program, an acronym for Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow, would use wastewater that has been treated to drinking water standards and inject it into back into the Potomac Aquifer, Powell told Williamsburg Watch. Right now that water is pumped into the James River and other waterways.

The groundwater issue capped a lengthy presentation Tuesday about the county’s stormwater management issues and what it is doing to resolve it in partnership with the Hampton Roads Sanitation District.

The two work together: JCSA sewers collect wastewater and send it to HRSD, a regional agency that takes the wastewater for treatment at its Williamsburg facility on the James River adjacent to Carters Grove plantation.

A consultant’s study last year warned the county that continued housing growth, particularly in the northern end of the county, “will place additional strain on the wastewater collection system and is expected to result in more sanitary sewer overflows,” Powell told the supervisors.

Over the years, sewers get clogged with grit and debris, rendering them less effective. That can create sewage spills when a large rain event raises water pressure beyond what the system can handle, officials explained.

The regional agency and Hampton Roads localities have been operating for two decades under a consent order from the Environmental Protection Agency over wastewater capacity, which led to a regional wet weather management plan, according to Powell.

HRSD is planning to spend $43 million to $70 million to deal with some of those issues, HRSD Chief of Planning and Analysis John J. Dano told the board. JCSA will be spending another $14.5 million over the next five years to address parts of the problem, Powell added.

The regional agency and JCSA now share data that helps them see where problems are developing, and will implement controls that allow the system to better control the increased water pressure that occurs during major rain events.

HRSD said its solutions may include building water storage tanks near Ford’s Colony and Williamsburg Crossing near Rt. 199 and Jamestown Road. The tanks would store millions of gallons of water during rain events and gradually release it back into the system, Dano said.

That work, he added, will require help from the county in getting land and the necessary permits.

Powell told us the county’s current groundwater withdrawal permit allows James City to withdraw up to 8.4 million gallons of water a day. Its average use right now is 5.5 million gallons a day, “but I don’t know what the next permit is going to say.”

Powell said he will have an indication of what the state environmental department will decide by the end of the year.

Here are links to the DEQ report and appendix.

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CORRECTION. We have corrected the source and cost for the initial design of the center, which we erroneously reported as $5 million from the city of Williamsburg. $5 million is the amount the city of Williamsburg earmarked toward the arts center in its FY 2026 capital budget, which has not been spent.

More than two dozen supporters of the arts turned out to the James City County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday cheering the proposed $83.1 million performing arts venue. But the supervisors made clear they weren’t making any decisions yet.

The sales pitch for the proposed center, which would be located adjacent to the newly opened Greater Williamsburg Sports and Events Center, is that it could bring millions in revenue to the area from spectators who come and stay one or more nights in local hotels.

The proposed facility would include a 68,000 square foot indoor performance center and a 90,000 square foot outdoor amphitheater.

County Administrator Scott Stevens, who is also chair of the Historic Triangle Recreational Facilities agency that would own the center, told Williamsburg Watch the agency would probably wait to see how well the events center performs in bringing in promised tourist dollars over the next few years.

“A decision has not been made by James City County,” Board Chair John J. McGlennon said after the supervisors saw a presentation for the facility.“ The process…would involve the opportunity for public input.”

McGlennon said he expected the city of Williamsburg, which has been an early champion of the project, would take the lead in figuring out how to pay for the facility, whose cost is estimated at $83.1 million. HTRFA paid $1.575 million for the initial design work for the center, according to Stevens. Stevens said there has been no recommendation on how the facility would be paid for. He said Williamsburg City Council would hear a presentation in August, followed by York County in September.

“There’s no timeline for making a decision” on the center, Stevens said.

Vice Chair Ruth Larson asked if local arts supporters might be willing to donate towards the facility’s cost.

“They are very passionate about this and they are ready and committed to going out to raise money for this,” replied Rick Hibbett, a representative for Clark Nexsen, the architectural design firm who walked the supervisors through the concept.

Local arts patrons formed a nonprofit group, Advocates for Live Performance Venue, to boost support for the new center.

They say the Williamsburg region boasts a robust arts scene – including two symphonies, a ballet and opera – that have no permanent home large enough to profitably stage performances.

A consultant hired by Visit Williamsburg, the region’s tourism marketing arm, estimated the venue could generate from $17.9 million to $53 million in local revenue by hosting multi-day music festivals and events that draw people from out of town.

“Think blues and jazz festivals and other festivals,” we were told earlier by Richard Overy, a financial advisor who is a member of the advocacy group.

Williamsburg, James City and York Counties would see about $1.5 million in annual tax revenue from food, sales and lodging taxes, according to Victus, the consultant.

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America’s 250^th anniversary has been good to Williamsburg, according to figures from the Virginia Tourism Corporation.

Complete figures are difficult to obtain because many properties do not report their occupancy figures.

But those who did report show that in the four weeks leading up to July 4, Historic Triangle hotels saw a 6.7% increase in occupancy rate. That was double the statewide average increase.

Room rates increased by $12.71, to $164.57 a day, $20 higher than the state’s average rate.

The week leading up to July 4 was even stronger, with occupancy at 71.6% for the region vs. 66.3% for the state. Hotel rates jumped to $186.04, nearly $40 above the state average.

The week following the holiday was also strong, with a 10.3% increase in occupancy, although the room premium decreased to $157.77. That was still above the state average of $139.75 and an increase of 5.1% from the same week in 2025.

Williamsburg Tourism Council figures showed southern York County hotels had the biggest occupancy rates in the 28 days through July 11 -- 85.8%

James City County hotels reported the area’s largest increase in occupancy rate but ranked third in the region after the city of Williamsburg and York County. James City hotels had the steepest daily room rate, at $172.95 vs. $167.50 for York County and $161.93 for the city.

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Talk to Jamestown Supervisor Jim Icenhour about his skepticism of new housing developments in James City County, and he will bring up his study of Virginia counties and draw a U-shaped curve relating the cost of local government to population size.

A small community lacks a large enough tax base to provide essential services, Icenhour says. They tend to rely on volunteer fire departments and emergency services.

“When you get between about 25,000 to 75,000 people, now you’ve got a critical mass,” he told us. “You are collecting enough in revenues from taxes that you can provide better services, and the cost is reasonable.

But counties in the 75,000 to 100,000 population range see the cost per resident creep back up, “because that kind of community demands better services.”

James City County is already there.

During a recent interview over lunch, Icenhour, told Williamsburg Watch he is often a skeptic of planned residential developments because he is concerned about their impact on schools and transportation and the eventual cost to existing taxpayers.

He said the tax revenue the developments generate often doesn’t pay for the capital infrastructure required to sustain them.

“I’m representing my constituents,” Icenhour said. “And you come to me with a development that I think is going to cost them, in the long run, more tax money. Why should they subsidize?“

Icenhour has the second-longest tenure on the county board of supervisors after Chairman John J. McGlennon.

A Ford’s Colony resident, he was first elected in 2005 from what was then the Powhatan District, comprising the entire community. He ran unopposed in 2009.

But he was re-districted out of his seat in 2011 after the prior year’s census. Ford’s Colony was split down the middle between Powhatan and Jamestown districts. McGlennon, a fellow Democrat, was redistricted out of his Jamestown seat into the Roberts district.

Redistricting occurred under what was then a Republican majority in the supervisors, on the recommendation of a committee chaired by a Republican party operative, Jeff Ryer, who is now the state Republican party chairman.

McGlennon won re-election by 28 votes. A temporary supervisor was appointed to the new Jamestown seat until a special election was called for a one year term in 2012, which Icenhour won. But he lost re-election in 2013, also by 28 votes, to Republican Kevin Onizuk. Onizuk decided not to run again in 2018, and Icenhour was returned to the board.

Icenhour says he has seen James City County become increasingly Democratic because “growth has brought in a lot of people, from areas where they tend to be” majority Democrats.

Icenhour, a North Carolina native, is himself a transplant. He and his wife Linda moved to the county with their two daughters from Newport News because of what he says was increasing crime and over development.

His oldest daughter is an military veteran like Icenhour and lives in Brussels, where she works for NATO. The youngest daughter is a James City County teacher and lives in the county.

Icenhour says he ran for the board because “I was concerned about the fact that (James City) was going to be turned into another Newport News, or another Northern Virginia.”

He retired from the U.S. Air Force after 20 years as a fighter jet pilot, then went to work as an airline pilot with Pan American World Airways, later absorbed into Delta Airlines.

“I like it, Icenhour says of his role as supervisor. “It keeps me involved in the community.”

Icenhour says he will continue to stand for election “as long as I think I have something to offer. And as long as I’m physically able to do it.”

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Friday, July 24

A task force of local arts supporters will be making the rounds of local governments over the next few months, lobbying for an $83 million entertainment venue next to the new Greater Williamsburg Sports & Events Center.

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Thursday, July 23

Williamsburg, James City and York County administrators are close to a deal that will keep York in the Williamsburg Regional Library system, one of them told Williamsburg Watch.

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Wednesday, July 22

York Supervisors approved a November referendum asking voters if they want to pay up to an extra penny in sales tax to repair and replace the county’s aging school buildings.

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Tuesday, July 21

The largest chunk of the 7,000 homes approved but yet built in James City County are in the northern portion of the county, which is already dealing with an overcrowded elementary school and stormwater sewage overflows.

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Monday, July 20

The James City County firemen and paramedics were feverishly working to stabilize a pretend victim trapped inside an attic frame at Fire House 4 when they were interrupted by something more important – a real-life emergency call.

The exercise was just a simulation, an ongoing routine in county fire stations. It’s part of the advanced care paramedic program that allows the James City Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Services team to provide a level of care normally seen only in trauma centers – a level higher than 99% of the nation’s EMS services provide, according to officials.

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A task force of local arts supporters will be making the rounds of local governments over the next few months, lobbying for an $83 million entertainment venue next to the new Greater Williamsburg Sports & Events Center.

But the high price tag may be a tough sell.

Patricia Rublein chairs the group , which goes by the somewhat unwieldly name of Advocates for Live Performance Venue. Rublein, a patron of the arts and former head of the Williamsburg Art Commission, put together the task force more than three decades ago looking for a home for the area’s performance groups, who have representatives in the ALPV.

Supporters say there is enough demand between residents and tourists to fill a large concert hall and amphitheater 100 nights a year.

“What we have is a robust arts culture without a venue,” said Rick Overy, a private wealth advisor who is a member of the advocacy group.

Besides the Williamsburg Symphony, which has grown to 70 performers and 800 subscribers, Williamsburg is also one of the Virginia Symphony’s four locations.

It also boasts an opera, choral guild and ballet groups, a playhouse and an annual film festival and Williamsburg Live festivals

William & Mary’s decision to cut Phi Beta Kappa Hall’s capacity in half when it renovated the building took away the venue used by the ballet and some symphony performances. The renovation, from 2018 to 2023, cut seating to 450, which Rublein said is not enough to pay the costs of a symphony or ballet performance.

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Williamsburg, James City and York County administrators are close to a deal that will keep York in the Williamsburg Regional Library system, one of them told Williamsburg Watch.

While the deal may cost more than York would like, it will be significantly cheaper than going it alone for the county.

“We’re very close,” York County Administrator Mark L. Bellamy, Jr. said. “But ultimately, it’s up to the boards.”

James City County Administrator Scott Stevens said he is putting a closed-door session on next week’s board of supervisors meeting agenda to discuss a library contract.

Bellamy said the final result “is going to look very much the same” as the original proposal floated by York County, which has not been disclosed publicly.

York County has its own library system, but is also in the regional library for the convenience of its First District residents, who live near Williamsburg and well north of the county’s other libraries.

“They consider themselves Williamsburg residents,” said Sandy Towers, the executive director of the regional library.

York supervisors have complained about the growing cost of being members of the regional library. York County’s contribution, while the smallest of the three localities, has grown from $828,000 in 2024 to $964,453 this year.

The charge is based on the percentage of library books checked out by each locality’s residents.

James City pays the largest share of operating costs -- $6.5 million -- because its residents account for 73% of the items checked out from the library system, according to library figures. Williamsburg’s share went down to $1.1 million this year.

Last year York County gave the required two-year notice that it would leave the regional library June 30, 2027, to protest the amount it was paying toward operating costs. James City County has also served notice it wants to renegotiate the regional library agreement.

York’s costs are significantly lower than the $27 million the county tentatively sketched out for a new library in the north end, not including the cost of staffing and equipping the new building.

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York Supervisors approved a November referendum asking voters if they want to pay up to an extra penny in sales tax to repair and replace the county’s aging school buildings.

James City County will not move in the same direction this year, according to County Administrator Scott Stevens.

York Administrator Mark L. Bellamy, Jr. told supervisors at their Tuesday night meeting that the extra penny in sales tax would generate about $12 million a year dedicated solely to school construction and school repairs in York County.

School Superintendent James Carroll told the board York’s 18 schools are an average of 55 years old, and three of them are 72 years old -- at the edge of the generally accepted lifespan of 75 years for school buildings.

Carroll said the school board is awaiting a facilities review from a consulting firm and is anticipating they will recommend replacing some buildings.

School projects will account for 41% of all county capital spending over the next six years, Bellamy said, and the county is looking at other projects, including several fire stations and a new courthouse. By adding the sales tax, more money will be freed up to fund those projects, Bellamy said.

He said the revenue from the extra penny in sales tax is the equivalent of 9 cents in additional real estate taxes. But unlike real estate, tourists pay 25-30% of sales taxes, so they would be helping pay for the schools, Bellamy said.

District 4 Supervisor G. Stephen Roane, Jr. protested the supervisors were moving too quickly to approve a referendum before studying other ways of raising the money to fix the schools.

Roane also said raising the sales tax to 8% would give York the area’s highest sales tax, and consumers might decide to shop elsewhere, so the revenue may be lower than Bellamy anticipated.

In the end, the supervisors voted 4-1 to approve the referendum, with Roane the sole dissenting vote.

“This board, by approving this referendum, is not taking sides” on the tax, District 2 supervisor Sheila Noll said. She said the voters will decide if they want to pay more to fund the schools.

Vice Chair Thomas G. Shepperd Jr. said voters tell him schools are the reason they moved to York County, and “one way or another, we’re going to have to pay for this stuff.”

York County was able to vote on a referendum because the recently concluded General Assembly session passed a law allowing local governments to add up to a penny on local sales taxes for school projects, but only if voters approve it in a referendum.

“I don’t see James City County doing a school referendum this year,” Stevens told Williamsburg Watch . He said the county might consider it as a funding option in the future if there is a large school project to pay for.

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