COMMENTARY: Greater Transparency Needed from Colonial Williamsburg on Land Development
Secrecy and backroom deals are not how people want growth to proceed
Since publishing an article several days ago about Colonial Williamsburg’s potential redevelopment of a downtown parking lot, the Williamsburg Independent has attracted thousands of new readers. A post sharing the news on social media platform Nextdoor has garnered almost 6K views and dozens of public comments. These are not insignificant totals in a city with less than 16K people. I think the reaction signals deep, personal interest within the community concerning the development plans of the area’s largest land owner, as well as the extent of the government’s involvement. Without doubt, there's a desire for greater disclosure and more public participation in the planning and decision making.
Lack of public input
As I reported, Colonial Williamsburg President and CEO Cliff Fleet voiced support for more community input and discussion about the Foundation’s potential land development. Still, one can’t help but think about the past few years when the Foundation unveiled massive developments (already backed by local politicians) without seeking community input. Perhaps the Foundation’s perceived change of heart stems from their recent failure to get everything they want.
CW leadership will tell you that they have always sought feedback and input. Just last year, while pursuing rezoning for a potential project, they released a statement saying the Foundation “looks forward to a robust engagement process that solicits many perspectives.” Yet, the City’s planning staff listed only “input from Colonial Williamsburg consultants and an HTRFA design team,” according to local reporting. That’s not exactly a “robust engagement process” meant to solicit “many perspectives.” It seem apropos to point out that opponents of the Foundation’s Spotswood development once hosted an information session that packed the library’s auditorium. I’m sure that CW would get the same turnout anytime it actually wanted to update its neighbors and solicit feedback.
“Whether residents can save the Foundation and the City from themselves remains to be seen.”
If economic development leaders continue to have free reign, you can say goodbye to the small-town feel for which Williamsburg is known. Not only is that why many of us choose to live here, but also why many others choose to visit. Whether residents can save the Foundation and the City from themselves remains to be seen.
Affordable housing claims
A quick rundown of potential projects (those that I’m aware of) clearly reveals the massive impact they could have. In response to concern about the size and scope of potential developments, the City, CW leadership and many residents point to the need for affordable housing. I agree. But based on the lack of a focus on affordable housing in prior projects, I’m skeptical.
One can look to the apartment complex developed on behalf of CW at the former Governor’s Inn site on N. Henry St. as a benchmark. A review shows that apartment rents at the complex currently range from $1755 for a one bedroom apartment to $2415 for a two bedroom apartment on Apartments.com. According to the affordability calculator on the site, a typical person would need to make over $70K (roughly $34/hour) to afford the one bedroom apartment. That just so happens to be about the same amount as the typical family earns around here.
“Hopefully, people’s economic struggles are not just being used as window-dressing in order to justify cashing in on more land development.”
A review of the pay for job postings at Colonial Williamsburg on a popular job website shows a mix of service and maintenance jobs paying $15-$25 an hour. None of those folks would be able to afford the market-rate apartments built by CW in the past. It’s worth noting, when the Governor’s Inn project was approved by City Council, the developers only committed to setting aside 20 units at less than market rates (less than 15% of the total number of apartments). And the high-end Spotswood development would have been even further out of reach for most of CW’s workforce. Hopefully, people’s economic struggles are not just being used as window-dressing in order to justify cashing in on more land development.
Potential development sites
On that note, the following are projects known to be part of what Fleet described as “going through scenarios” for properties the Foundation has labeled “underutilized.”
Parking Lot P6
As mentioned, Fleet did not rule out developing the P6 parking lot downtown, though he said that no current plans are in place. The land covers an entire city block and is quite desirable, he noted.
Franklin St. Offices, Warehouse, Maintenance Facilities
At the community meeting, Fleet indicated that the Foundation feels that property near the intersection of N. Botetourt and Lafayette could serve a better purpose. Currently, the site is occupied by the Foundation’s employment offices, the main warehouse and other maintenance facilities. It’s unclear how much space future development might occupy.
Sports Town
Construction for an $80M sports complex being built on CW land is already underway, bankrolled by public debt backed by a special 1% sales tax we all pay. It’s going to take a lot of youth basketball and volleyball tournaments to pay us back — even if you count hotel rooms and meals etc. But before the performance of the first building is known, we’re going to build even more, like a swimming pool and ice hockey rink. There’s no clear indication that this huge gamble on youth sports will pay off. According to the City’s own consultant, most facilities like it struggle to live up to promises. In that case, let’s throw a music venue in there, too.
Across the street from those facilities, the combined forces of Colonial Williamsburg and HTRFA want to build 500 apartments and 50 townhomes, plus hundreds of thousands of square feet in new commercial space. The project went nowhere last year but I expect it will come back around, now that HTRFA has been given zoning rights for that land (and more across the city). Predicted rents for the units weren’t disclosed the first time around to the public, so the apartments built on the old Governor’s Inn site offers us the best guess that anything new won’t actually be affordable either.
Spotswood
CW and City leaders stumbled in their initial attempt to build a high-density development meant for high-end tastes. They’ve since agreed to refurbish the golf course instead, but still have a substantial amount of land over there left to develop. Fleet commented at the community meeting that he still gets calls regularly from people who want to buy one of the previously proposed houses from him.
The Green Course
Information gathered from FOIA requests indicate that CW’s Green Course is a potential target for redevelopment, including a retirement community. Not to state the obvious, but golf courses are huge. As would be anything they build there.
Of course, there may be more ongoing development discussions about which I’m not aware. If you are, let me know what I missed and I’ll update the list if we can substantiate the possibility. And if the Foundation is truly open to more public discussion about its development plans, the Williamsburg Independent would be happy to help.
(Updated 1-8-25: Typos corrected and second pull quote added.
George Arbogust is Founder and Editor of the Williamsburg Independent. You can contribute too! Send tips & story ideas to contact@williamsburgindependent.com.