COMMENTARY: Planning for New Public Library Not So Public
City promises opportunity for resident input (*eventually)
At their scheduled meeting last week, the Williamsburg City Council officially selected a contractor to begin the inital planning for a new $26M public library. Certain terms of the project are still unknown, such as final design, cost and financial support from regional partners. But a statement by the City, indicates that “Phase 1” of the project is beginning, which will include public input in the form of “community meetings” conducted by the chosen contractor, Hourigan Construction.
Better late than never, but the City previously assured residents that their input would be sought in initial stages of the project, before the selection of the contractor. Yet, no such effort seems to have been made.
If the City is suggesting that we’re only now entering Phase 1 of this new library project, then I propose that the previous months of work should be considered “pre-Phase 1.” As such, during pre-Phase 1, input was solicited from City Council members, City staff, the Library’s governing board and Friends of Williamsburg Regional Library Foundation. The City points out that those stakeholders’ feedback included thoughts about the library contractor selection, as well as “parking, exterior design, interior design, orientation, impact to library operations during construction, and price before making a recommendation.”
One example of the City promising to gather public input early in the process, but not following through, is found in the most recent Goals, Initiatives and Objectives (GIO) document. Referring to a new downtown library, the GIO states: “Following public input on the building’s design, select a general contractor, approve a finance plan, and begin construction for the replacement of the downtown library.”
This isn’t the only place the City suggested that public input would come before selecting a general contractor. Another instance occurs in the City’s request for proposal (RFP) for the preliminary design and construction, which states: “Proposers may also be asked to do up to two (2) presentations of their concepts in a public setting which may include an online survey, design charette, or informational meeting.” Guess what never happened.
Library RFP review committee
A recent fundraising letter sent by the Friends of Williamsburg Regional Library Foundation begins with an affirmation of the importance of libraries today. “At the heart of every thriving community is a place where curiosity flourishes, knowledge is shared, and opportunities are boundless. For over 100 years, the Williamsburg Regional Library has served as that very place for our region … Our library is built on the cornerstone belief that access to information is essential to a healthy democracy.”
Interesting, because the Williamsburg City Council established a library RFP review committee made up exclusively of representatives from stakeholder organizations and City staff. In total, the committee met four times during pre-Phase 1 to choose the initial design and contractor, yet I found no public announcements concerning the meetings held by this committee, or any meeting minutes regarding what was discussed and decided by them as the process progressed. That sure seems like a lot of decision-making regarding the selection of the contractor, but not much public knowledge sharing or access to information.
One has to wonder why, because the new library is of obvious interest to many residents of Williamsburg and neighboring communities. In fact, a report by Sian Wilkerson in the The Daily Press back in November 2022 stated that 100 residents attended a public forum concerning a potential new library.
Public input, eventually
The City is still promising the chance for the public to provide input on the new library, claiming that the contractor “will lead several stakeholder and community meetings on the library building’s design. After consulting with City staff and the library building evaluation committee, Hourigan will incorporate any necessary adjustments into its preliminary design and cost estimates.”
The public is able to address several of these boards at their regular meetings, but little has been released for anyone to review and discuss. So far, the City hasn’t released detailed information about the selected proposal, or the proposals of the two firms that were not chosen. This project appears to be another example of Williamsburg leadership developing a project in near isolation, despite claiming they want public input, then springing it on the community.
At the time of this writing, several representatives of the City had not responded to multiple requests for clarification or comment about perceived discrepancies between the City’s selection process and statements regarding public input.
New library timeline
Below is a timeline of meetings and other activities where the library selection process was discussed but not materially disclosed. I couldn’t identify any concerted effort to ask residents their thoughts at any time in this process.
May 2, 2024: The City of Williamsburg issued a Solicited Conceptual Phase Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure (PPEA) Request for Proposal (RFP) to design and construct a new downtown library.
June 27, 2024: The closing date and time for submitting proposals
August 8, 2024: The City Council considered the responses to the RFP in a closed session.
August 28, 2024: Williamsburg Regional Library Board of Trustees received notice that the City Council created a library RFP review committee.
October 2024: Meeting of library RFP review committee.
December 2024: Library RFP review committee meets to discuss proposals.
January 29, 2025: Library Review Committee meets to discuss proposals.
March 2025: Library RFP review committee meets to decide recommendation.
March 13, 2025: The City Council makes preliminary selection of lead contractor based on review committee recommendation.
April 10, 2025: The City Council authorizes an interim agreement with contractor for the design of the new downtown Williamsburg Library.
Regional funding for new library in question
Funding for the new library has also become murky recently. Currently, a joint library system is run by Williamsburg, James City County and York County. But as Digby Solomon of Williamsburg Watch reported, the library agreement does not require that each jurisdiction contribute funding to build the new library. And it looks like James City County is opting to build one of their own instead – potentially as part of their proposed government complex.
Williamsburg’s adopted budget for fiscal year 2025 anticipated a total of $15M in “Library Regional” funding from James City County and York County. The City also lists $5M in “Library Private” funding, about which details have not been released.
Building the new library as currently envisioned will be difficult without significant contributions from regional partners. Solomon reports in Williamsburg Watch that Williamsburg Mayor Doug Pons responded by saying, “I guess the elephant in the room is how much library are we going to build since James City County has reneged, indicated they are not going to contribute to the downtown library … So that changes…the amount of funds that we will have available.” But the 2022 report by Wilkerson in the Daily Press noted that at the time, James City County Administrator Scott Stevens cast doubt on the County’s commitment to building a new library in Williamsburg. And as reported in the Williamsburg Independent earlier this year, the York County Board of Supervisors also discussed investing the money for the new library into one of their own.
Williamsburg City Manager Andrew Trivette addressed the potential funding shortfall during a City Council meeting on April 7, 2025. “If the city is the only entity putting money in based on the budget that you're considering, we don't have enough for it,” he said.
George Arbogust is Founder and Editor of the Williamsburg Independent. He gets up early, so please consider buying him a cup of coffee.
Editor’s Note: A Google AI tool called NotebookLM was used to help compile information and calculate data presented in this article.