Bridge to Surry back under study
Good morning! Also today....how the federal budget will affect Medicaid and food stamp recipients in James City County...county staff recommend approving 400 new homes in Stonehouse.
The Virginia Department of Transportation expects to start work next month studying whether a bridge between Surry County and either James City or Charles City County is feasible, a spokesperson said.
State Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, sponsored a resolution calling for the study after a similar measure died in committee last year.
Surry County’s board of supervisors pushed for the legislation because they believe a land connection across the James River is important to growing the county’s economy, and it cannot depend solely on the ferry that runs from Jamestown to Surry, according to reports in the Smithfield Times.
The original legislation proposed last year by Del. Kim Taylor, R-Petersburg, stipulated the bridge should run from Hog Island near the Surry nuclear power plant to a spot near the Jamestown ferry, a staffer in Sen. Aird’s office told us Tuesday.
“VDOT warned it would cost $1.6 million to vet that route because of environmental issues at Hog Island on one side, and federal ownership of the Colonial Parkway” on the other side, the staffer said.
The legislation approved this year gives the department leeway to consider various crossing points and present results to next year’s General Assembly session.
“VDOT will not be identifying specific crossing locations or connection points but will instead examine historic traffic growth (and) local and regionally forecasted land development,” said Brittany McBride, communications manager for the Hampton Roads district.
She said the agency will get feedback from stakeholders in the three counties as part of its study.
VDOT's review will also identify elements of the project development process such as completion of an environmental document, permitting, preliminary engineering, right of way acquisition, and construction phasing, McBride said.
Federal budget spares local Medicaid and food stamp recipients, but cuts housing help
Corrected article. We have corrected the name of Social Services Director Barbara Watson in our caption above.
Medicaid and food stamp recipients in James City County should not be dramatically impacted by changes to the program in the new federal budget, James City County’s director of social services told the board of supervisors Tuesday.
But county caseworkers’ workload will double, and some sizeable cuts are in play for various housing and energy assistance programs, Social Services Director Barbara Watson said.
She also said nonprofits that normally help fill the gap between what the state and federal governments provide for low-income residents are looking at cuts to their budgets as well.
“It is going to take some time before we really know those impacts,” County Administrator Scott Stevens noted. When some supervisors expressed a desire to help, he cautioned about getting ahead of other local governments in trying to address any gaps, lest the county get an influx of needy residents.
“People will travel to where they’re best looked after,” Stevens said.
About 3,500 county residents received Medicaid help under the state’s Medicaid expansion program, Watson said. The new budget requires able-bodied adults who are not caring for dependents to work or volunteer at least 80 hours per month.
But the new budget requires that they be re-certified twice a year, instead of annually, which will double the caseload of county workers who handle 600 or more people.
The food stamp program also has a work requirement, but the 1,618 able-bodied recipients in the county are already being vetted for compliance, she said.
A bigger concern is the potential loss of the low-income home energy assistance program, which provides 853 households with subsidies for cooling and fuel.
The new budget will also cut more than $1 million from various housing assistance programs for county residents, Watson said, including housing vouchers for 260 families.
“We’re probably going to have to step in and help,” Berkeley District Supervisor Ruth Larson said. “It’s very difficult to not help our most vulnerable citizens….and I would imagine that nonprofits are going to be looking to us as well.”
Roberts District Supervisor John McGlennon said helping lower income working people to remain in the county was also an economic development issue that would help businesses to retain employees.
400 new homes proposed for Stonehouse District
Editors Note — we corrected this story to explain how many affordable housing units have been built.
James City planners will discuss approving 400 new homes in the Stonehouse district today
The county planning commission’s development review committee is meeting today to review a staff report saying the proposal is consistent with the county’s master plan and ordinances and should move forward.
TMCP Stonehouse LLC will build 400 homes on 325 acres of land. The development is known as a planned unit development because it clusters homes closer together and leaves 35% of the land for open and recreational spaces.
The plan calls for building 318 single family homes, 19 residences with two to four units each, and 63 attached residences less than three stories high with more than four units apiece.
The common open space will include a community center, swimming pool, playground, tennis court, athletic field and off-street parking.
As part of the incentives the developer made to get approval, at least 85 units in Stonehouse were to be offered at below market prices. So far 70 have been built, according to Community Development Director Paul Holt.
No commitments have been made to build the remaining 15 units, said Holt, who said the staff continues to remind the developers of the outstanding requirement.
Hold said the developer also contributes cash for each unit for the county’s affordable housing fund, and has paid $823,142.28 so far.
State and regional headlines
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Effort to bring high-speed internet to rural America has a new wrinkle: a push toward Starlink
He said it:
Williamsburg resident Bob Wilson, in an email to the city council and the executive director of the Williamsburg library, on the benefit of renovating the existing city library rather than building new:
“As you grapple with the library decision, I thought the attached Library Journal article would be informative and illustrative of the library renovation movement across the country. As I've noted before, a major renovation would cost around $8 - $10 million. Trying to reduce the size of a proposed new building to get a total cost around $30 million and spreading the financing over 20 years is not the answer in my opinion…
Excerpt from article:
In 2021, the American Library Association reported that the average library building is over 40 years old and that the nation's 17,000 public libraries would need approximately $32 billion dollars for construction and renovation over the next 25 years. Given the seemingly daunting challenges that renovations entail, it's not uncommon for communities with aging libraries to look with envy at cities that are spending money on new buildings. While the romance of the new is understandably appealing, renovations should never be discounted as opportunities for transformation. This is especially true when considering the (American Institute of Architects’) observation — in their report Renovate, retrofit, reuse: Uncovering the hidden value in America's existing building stock — that "By making use of the existing building stock, architects can help strengthen local economies through job creation; generate cultural resilience through promoting cultural heritage and social cohesion; and curtail greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficient retrofits. "
Passings
Demetrio Jose Perez, 89, July 21. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/williamsburg-va/demetrio-perez-12459350
Quovadis Mae Cooke, 90, July 18. https://www.whitingsfuneralhome.com/obituary/Quovadis-Cooke
Appreciate your adding the links to the obituaries