Snow Alert! Schools Closed Today
Good morning. Today:1,006-home development planned across from the James City County government center; digging into the achievement gap between Williamsburg and James City County students.
If the forecasters were right, you should be seeing snow out your windows this morning. York County and Williamsburg-James City County schools have suspended classes.
The forecast calls for snow or a mix of rain and snow early this morning through rush hour, transitioning to rain for the rest of the day.
VDOT crews pre-treated overpasses, bridges and state roads in our area on Thursday. But the Virginia Department of Transportation is warning drivers to take their time, especially in places where pavements freeze first, including overpasses, bridges, ramps, and shaded areas.
James City County urged local drivers to sign up for alerts.
Cardinal Ridge development goes to James City County supervisors for final approval
They were surprised at the number of houses. Some worried about increased traffic. But in the end, James City County’s planning commission recommended approval of a neighborhood adding up to 1,006 homes on surplus Eastern State Hospital land.
The mixed-use project, called Cardinal Ridge, is the brainchild of national homebuilder D.R. Horton. It would be located on 365 acres between Ironbound Road and Galt Lane.
At Wednesday night’s planning commission meeting, representatives for the company outlined what they said were unique components of the project, which would include up to 309 single family homes, 247 townhomes, and 450 apartments as well as 162,000 square feet of commercial space.
The developer said at least 20% of the homes would be sold or rented at prices affordable to workers earning 80% or less of the area’s median income.
It also would help the county deal with increased traffic from its new government center, going up across Longhill Road, by paying to widen two roundabouts at Longhill Road and DePue Drive.
There were also some unique offers made to whet the county’s appetite:
The developer would give 40.6 acres to James City County for public use, which attorney Timothy Trant suggested could be used for a school if the county wished.
The county will also be given the land designated for commercial property, which Trant said was worth $7.6 million, and could choose to either develop or sell it to a third party.
Horton will set aside land for the new Colonial Behavioral Health center going up on Galt, and for Hope Family Village, which provides housing for individuals with mental health issues.
County planners said the project would not overcrowd schools, and would be a net contributor to county income.
In a novel twist, the developer would ask the county to create a Community Development Authority to float bonds to pay for transportation improvements such as the roundabout expansions. Cardinal Ridge homeowners would bear the cost of repaying the bonds, with fees that would range from $900 to $1,200 a year at first, rising to $1,600 to $2,500 for townhouses and single family homes, according to Trant. He said apartments would not be charged this fee.
Residents of The Mews townhome developments came to protest the project. They said the combination of the new government center and a massive new housing project would make their traffic problems even worse than they are.
“I feel a little bit overwhelmed” by the scope of change, said one resident.
Jamestown representative Frank Polster, who voted against the project, said its traffic study shows another 17,100 cars a day on Longhill Road, DePue Drive and Ironbound Road, nearly double the 9,100 vehicles already traveling those streets. He also doubted whether the stormwater plans proposed by the builder would protect the imperiled Powhatan Creek watershed.
Planning commission chair Jack Haldeman praised the design but voted against it because “it’s just too big.”
Trant said the only way the developer could afford to provide all the amenities it offered without overpricing the homes was to spread the cost over a large number of units.
A majority of the other commissioners agreed to support the plan, while expressing concerns about the size.
Berkeley representative Steven Rodgers said he favored building more housing closer to where people work, rather than at the extreme fringes of the county. He noted one of his grown children had been looking for a home in James City County to house his family for a year without finding something he could afford.
“I wish it was 500 instead of 1,000” houses, Rodgers said, but he voted in favor.
Powhatan representative Michael Maye also voted for it, although he said he “would like to see fewer houses.”
Stonehouse representative Jay Everson and at large representative Crystal Haskins also voted for the rezoning, which passed 4-2.
It’s not specifically on the agenda for today’s meeting of the local school board and the localities that fund it. But the performance gap between Williamsburg and James City County students is on the to-do list for Williamsburg-James City County school leaders.
The double-digit achievement gap between city and county students tempted the city to consider leaving the 55-year-old joint school system, kicking off two years of negotiations with the county. The two localities and the school board finally signed a joint agreement in October.
At a school board session that month, Superintendent Daniel Keever outlined how he intends to address the gap and the city’s concerns.
A larger percentage of students from Williamsburg are minority, lower income, or potentially homeless, all factors that educators blame for poor academic results.
This chart tells the story of the achievement gap in reading:
As you can see, Williamsburg’s sole advantage was among students with disabilities, where city students edged out those from the county by one percentage point.
The school board has set a goal of having an 85% pass rate in third grade reading by 2028, outlined in the schools’ strategic plan.
The demographics of the two student bodies are quite different.
While white students are the largest single group in both areas, they represent more than half of James City County students, and only a third of Williamsburg’s. Black and Hispanic students make up a larger percentage of Williamsburg’s student body.
School Superintendent Daniel Keever told an October work session of the school board that homelessness potentially factors in as well. While the schools don’t have numbers on homeless students, they do know how many are not present for the full school year.
That figure was 21.5% for students living in Williamsburg, twice as many as James City County’s 11%.
The county has more students in all the troubled categories, since its population makes up 90% of the school enrollment.
Keever said the school administration will make it a priority to learn more about the root causes of the achievement gap and work to eliminate them. Administrators will look at demographic and enrollment levels, class ratios, teacher quality, and student attendance, he said.
Schools are also working to involve parents more with their children’s learning, hosting sessions at the schools and at the Williamsburg Regional Library.
Keever said the schools will provide more teaching help to problem students in the six schools with the largest percentage of city residents:
Matthew Whaley Elementary gets 71% of its enrollment from the city
Williamsburg children make up 23% of Berkeley Middle School and Lafayette High School’s enrollment
Clara Byrd Baker Elementary has 19% city enrollment
James Blair Middle School is at 14%
Laurel Lane is at 10%
Keever said pupil to teacher ratios have already been lowered at several schools. There is an 18-1 ratio at James River, 19-1 at Clara Byrd Baker and 20-1 at Matthew Whaley.
Matthew Whaley has three specialists focusing on English as a second language because many of the students there have little to no English knowledge, Keever said.
“This is a unique challenge...a complex challenge,” Keever said.
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Passings
