$49.8 million more approved for James City County government center

Good morning! A changing of the guard on the James City County board of supervisors. Schools are open today as streets clear up.

Dec 10, 2025

government center, left, library annex, right. (architect renderings)

James City County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday night to begin construction on the new government center and library annex, approving up to $48 million in additional work.

The contract with Henderson/Gilbane will cover the cost of pre-ordering steel, concrete work, initial plumbing and HVAC and electrical work on the facility at 5231 Longhill Road. Separately, the supervisors approved hiring McDonough Bolyard Peck to manage construction for $1.8 million.

The final cost of the entire complex will not be known until next spring, County Administrator Scott Stevens said.

The contractor is bound not to exceed $179 million to build the center. But as the county finalizes decisions on specifics of the center the final cost might be lower.

James City County had already committed $36 million for design and site preparation work on the government center. With Tuesday’s vote, the county has already committed $85.8 million toward the work.

Chris Henderson, a longtime opponent of the project, criticized the county for spending money on the government center rather than on a homeless shelter or schools.

“We have more important needs,” Henderson said. “We have people that are homeless, we have teachers that are underpaid....but yet we’re going to build a monument that nobody’s going to use because everyone’s on the internet doing their business with the county.”

In other business Tuesday, the board also unanimously approved designating the land for the proposed Westwood development adjacent to NewTown as a level one mixed use development, otherwise known as a rural, village, or small town or suburban center.

The change still allows the developers to build a mix of single-family homes, townhouses and apartments along with commercial space. It requires easy pedestrian access to surrounding shopping and recreational areas.

James City Board Chair Jim Icenhour also reported that the Greater Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce’s Home for the Holidays program collected enough money to help 145 young service members travel home to celebrate.

Icenhour, who is on the chamber’s military affairs committee, said the community raised $43,500 to give $300 travel stipends to service men and women based at the Yorktown naval station and Coast Guard stations.

Life is returning to normal today after Monday’s snowfall, which closed schools for two days and impacted government operating hours across the Historic Triangle.

We measured nearly four inches of snow at Williamsburg Watch’s world headquarters in Ford’s Colony on Monday. Local governments, courts and the library closed at noon on Monday and opened late on Tuesday. Williamsburg City Council cancelled its work session.

Though temperatures did not climb above the 30s on Tuesday, a strong sun melted most of the roads clean by the end of the day.

Today should see business as usual. Both the Williamsburg-James City County and the York County schools announced they will be open normal hours Wednesday.

Tracy Wainwright swearing in, left, Barbara Null, Michael Hipple and Jim Icenhour share a laugh. (Renee Dallman pictures)

The changing of the guard in James City County’s government took place Tuesday.

It was the last day of meetings for the board of supervisors this year, so they took a break in between their business session and their regular session to swear in two supervisors whose term will begin next month.

Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court Judge Holly Smith swore in new supervisor Tracy Wainwright, from the Powhatan district, and Board Chair Jim Icenhour, who won re-election to his Jamestown district seat.

Icenhour and Stonehouse representative Barbara Null then presented Hipple with a service plaque while the board took turns thanking him for his work.

“ I wanna thank you all for giving me the opportunity to be in this position…It has been a blast,” Hipple said.

“It’s made me a better person,” Hipple said, adding that after an initial rocky start “we decided to work together as a group…and have our fights…but respect each other.”

“Michael and I early on locked horns a bit,” Icenhour admitted. “Michael’s willingness to engage with us and make this a collaborative process has been absolutely phenomenal.”