Freezing rain coats area, disrupts schedules

It's Jan. 26. Freezing rain hit our area Sunday, postponing church services and events. Plus: Local official bristle at the House of Delegates' plans to limit local government's zoning power.

Jan 26, 2026

Ice coats trees. (Williamsburg Watch photo)

Sunday’s winter storm cancelled church services and glazed our roads, causing scattered power outages. .

As of 3:30 this morning, 7,905 customers across the state were without power, according to Dominion Power. In our region, 326 homes west of Anderson’s Corner, 696 customers between Ware Creek Rd. and York River State Park and 66 homes in Winston Terrace lost power due to trees on power lines or equipment problems, according to Dominion’s outage map. There were smaller outages reported in York Terrace and near Chickahominy Haven.

The Capitol Landing Road Bridge at the Lafayette Street intersection in Williamsburg was closed, as was Quarterpath Road between Redoubt Park and the Quarterpath Crossing Shopping Center, the city reported.

Department of Transportation crews worked around the clock to treat roads, and officials warned cold temperatures could continue to cause problems.

The National Weather Service office in Wakefield warned that cold weather would extend well into this week, extending the impact of the freezing rain on roads and trees.

Williamsburg-James City County schools had already planned a student holiday on Monday, but all other school events were also cancelled.

York County schools cancelled classes, and the school board postponed its public hearing planned for Monday on next year’s school budget. Both school systems warned parents to be alert for potential closings Tuesday, because cold temperatures might keep roads slick.

Williamsburg Area Transit Authority said Route 8 would not operate Monday and service would be delayed until 9 a.m. on other routes.

The Williamsburg Regional Library will open at 10 a.m., but garbage collection in the city will be delayed by one day.

Local courts will be closed today.

Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport was closed.

You may report road hazards at VDOT’s customer service center 24 hours a day at my.vdot.virginia.gov or 800-FOR-ROAD (800-367-7623).

You can report outages at 1-866-DOM-HELP (1-866-366-4357)

Proposed bills would encouragee more multifamily housing. Architect rendering of proposed Westwood multi use development in James City County

Two weeks after saying they believed local governments should have final say in local zoning decisions, our region’s new state delegates voted in favor of two bills setting zoning rights and housing growth targets, raising concern among local elected officials.

Governor Abigail Spanberger has made housing affordability a key initiative of her new administration.

Both Del. Jessica Anderson, D-71, and Del. Mark Downey, D-69, voted Friday to move two bills out of committee that would impact local government’s ability to control housing density.

Local governments jealously guard their right to make zoning decisions. Williamsburg and James City and York counties all placed retaining local zoning control high on their list of legislative initiatives for the current General Assembly session, which began last week.

At their meeting with the Greater Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 7, the two newly elected delegates said they wanted to improve access to affordable housing, but without watering down local governments’ ability to control zoning.

But they voted Friday to move two bills out of committee that would loosen local government zoning control, according to the Virginia Association of Counties.

House Bill 804 would require localities to increase their housing stock by 7.5 percent over five years, starting in 2028.

Local governments could also meet the requirement by taking at least three of the following eight actions, according to the association of counties:

Eliminate minimum lot size requirements for new housing developments.
Eliminate off-street parking requirements for new housing developments.
Increase building height limits for multifamily housing in one or more districts zoned for multifamily housing.
Reduce the median time to receive final approval for site plans and rezonings combined for new single-family and multifamily housing developments to 180 days and for new affordable housing developments to 120 days.
Modify zoning ordinances to allow for accessory dwelling units and high-density housing, including multifamily units such as apartments and condominiums, on land previously zoned for single-family use, including all land use changes necessary to make for feasible construction of accessory dwelling units.
Rezone all commercial and undeveloped residential parcels to allow for residential development near transit stations, places of employment, higher education facilities, and other appropriate population centers.
Rezone office parks and strip malls to permit high-density single-family and multifamily housing developments.
Create and fund an affordable housing trust fund to provide grant subsidies to for-profit and nonprofit developers for the purpose of building single-family and multifamily housing at rates affordable to households earning below 80 percent of the area median income.

Developers could appeal decisions to the board of zoning appeals if the locality does not meet the housing goals. Current state law does not give appeals board that right.

A second bill, HB 816, would require local zoning ordinances to allow the development of multifamily homes on at least 75 percent of all land zoned for commercial or business use. The bill would also require localities to exempt those developments from setback, height or frontage requirements.

“It moves essentially all land use decisions from the Board (of supervisors) to the (board of zoning appeals),” said York County Chair Douglas R. Holroyd, who told us he was speaking on his own behalf because the issue has not been discussed among the county’s board of supervisors. “What’s the purpose of having an elected board, representing the citizens of a county, if an appointed commission now usurps that decision making responsibility?”

“I think we all agree with the need for affordable housing. This has to be done without imposing an unbearable burden on the remainder of our taxpayers,“ Holroyd said.

James City County Vice Chair Ruth Larson, who is past president of the association of counties, told us she had called both Anderson and Downey to express concern about the bills.

The Virginia Association of Counties urged its members, who are elected officials, to lobby the require House Counties, Cities and Towns committee to oppose the bills.

Note: Be sure to check for weather cancellations

James City County

James City County Service Authority: Board of directors retreat to review proposed budget and water rates. Tuesday, Jan. 27. 8:30 a.m. JCSA Operations Center, 119 Tewning Rd.

Board of Supervisors Business Meeting. Tuesday, Jan. 27. 1 p.m. 101 Mounts Bay Rd., county government center board room.