$26.1 million Williamsburg library proposal takes second step in city council
Good morning! Hanukkah begins Sunday. Sobering statistics about the needy in James City County....Williamsburg, William & Mary approve land swap that will quadruple Cedar Grove cemetery.
Williamsburg City Council unanimously approved the second step in building a new downtown library, awarding a $1.1 million contract for design work that would set a maximum cost for the project.
Two days earlier, James City County approved a construction start for its new government complex, which includes a library annex 3.5 miles from the city library on Scotland Street.
The contract with Hourigan Construction Corp. requires it to create construction drawings that are 35% complete -- enough for the company to offer a binding maximum price estimate for the building. Hourigan’s initial estimate for the new library was $26.1 million.
“This in no way commits us to actually constructing,” said City Manager Andrew Trivette, adding “we’ll have to come back with that new pricing and the council will have the opportunity to decide then whether you’re going to proceed.”
Vice Mayor W. Pat Dent said that while $1 million was a significant sum to spend, “we need to move forward with this next phase so we can get that guaranteed maximum price, and (then) we’ll have an opportunity to decide whether that’s a price that we can afford at that particular time.”
Most of the speakers who commented on the project during Thursday’s public hearing were in favor of the new library.
The sole dissenter was city resident Bob Wilson, who commented the library would be paid for by “the city and city residents alone...to build a facility which in the past only 12% to 14% of users have been city residents.”
James City County residents account for 73% of the items checked out of the Williamsburg Regional Library system, and pays the majority of its budget. The city and York County residents almost evenly divide the balance of use.
Both James City and York have said they want to renegotiate the current library agreement, with York complaining it pays too much.
Wilson said he hoped a decision to build is held off until James City County agrees to continue as a member of the Williamsburg Regional Library.
In an unrelated action, Mayor Douglas G. Pons announced city council members had decided they would not move forward with a request to lease 122 acres near the Waller Mill Reservoir to a company that would sell power to Dominion Energy.
Whatever discussion council members had to reach that decision does not appear to have been done in public.
The city council heard a proposal from Cenergy, a solar power producer, last month. Several council members expressed concern at the time that clear cutting the trees which provide protection for the watershed could endanger the city’s only water supply.
Sobering statistics about James City County’s less fortunate residents
The typical James City County resident has an annual income higher than those of both the state and the nation, but there are still plenty of local residents who need help.
That point was driven home at Tuesday’s board of supervisor’s meeting.
The median annual household income of James City County residents in 2023 was $110,137, according to last year’s county comprehensive plan. That was 22% higher than the state average, and 40% higher than the U.S. median household income of $77,719.
That same year, more than 7% of households in the county were on food stamps.
At Tuesday’s board session, Board Chair Jim Icenhour read out some other sobering statistics in presenting the chairman’s award to the county’s social services department.
Over the past year, he said:
3,320 households in the county were on food stamps, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
4,500 individuals were on SNAP.
13,700 county residents were on Medicaid.
700 residents received help with utility payments.
280 received help with rent payments.
Icenhour later presented the Community of Faith Mission with an award for providing winter shelter for homeless people at local churches in the Historic Triangle from November to March each year.
Donnie McDaniel, the executive director of the mission, used the occasion to ask county officials for more funding.
She said housing the homeless over the winter would have cost local governments $127,000 this year if they had paid for hotels or other temporary housing.
Of the 56 individuals who have taken up shelter the past month, nearly half – 26 – were from James City County, McDaniel said.
Williamsburg land swap will expand cemetery
Williamsburg city council unanimously approved a land swap with William & Mary that allows it to expand its historic Cedar Grove cemetery, while giving the university more land for the College Woods abutting Lake Matoaka.
The university’s board of visitors approved the land swap at its November meeting.
It must now be approved by the governor.
The city will receive 34 acres owned by William & Mary behind the cemetery on South Henry Street. William & Mary gets 24 acres owned by the city between the west boundary of College Woods and Strawberry Plains Road.
Williamsburg agreed to pay surveying costs to account for the difference in value between the two parcels.
The land swap nearly quadruples the size of Cedar Grove. The cemetery, which is nearing capacity on 16.3 acres, will have enough room to meet demand for 90 years, a city press release stated.
Cedar Grove was established in November 1859 and contains the graves of U.S. Civil War soldiers and longtime residents.
The College Woods was included in the 1693 charter that founded William & Mary. The additional land allows the university to preserve the environmentally sensitive site.
It was a “win-win” for both sides, said Council Member Barbara L. Ramsey.
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Top 10 Picks for Holiday Weekend Fun
Grand Illumination. Dec. 13. 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Colonial Williamsburg. Free.
Williamsburg Christmas Market. Thursdays through Sundays until Dec. 21. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. 320 W. Court St. Free Thursdays, $5 fee other days.
Williamsburg Players Present A Christmas Carol. Thursday – Sunday until Dec. 21. 200 Hubbard Lane. $22 adults, $12 students/military.
An Enchanted Evening On Main Street in Yorktown. Dec. 12. 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Free.
Holiday Show: A Charles Dickens Christmas. Saturdays through Dec. 27. 4 p.m. – 5 p.m. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum.
Candlelight Christmas show celebrating colonial Christmases. Dec. 13. 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. American Revolution Museum in Yorktown. $10/adult, $7 child.
Mistletoe Market at Yorktown Market Days. Dec. 13. 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Riverwalk Landing. Free.
“At Christmas be mery”. Early Christmas celebration show at Historic Jamestown Visitor Center. Dec. 13, 5:30 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. $30.
Flute Frenzy Presents: Season of Peace Flute Choir Concert. Dec. 14. 2:20 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. King of Glory Lutheran Church. Free.
2d Sundays Williamsburg Art & Music Festival. Dec. 14. 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. 401 N. Boundary Street. Free.
Passings
