WILLIAMSBURG — The William & Mary Student Assembly hosted a Williamsburg City Council Candidate Forum Monday in the Sadler Commonwealth Auditorium.
All five city council candidates were in attendance as the moderators — Vice President Oscar Lazo and Chair of the Senate Hazel Vineet — asked questions on topics related to campus life.
Housing
The night opened with the moderators asking about student housing — asking the candidates where they stood on expanding the four-person rule and/or revoking the current three-person rental limit in Williamsburg, as well as alternative rules that would maintain neighborhood integrity but addressed the housing shortage and concerns of long-term residents.
Pat Dent, who is currently a sitting City Council member and vice mayor, said the rule existed for student safety and to protect students from price gouging for rent.
“We put a four-person rule in place for, in my opinion, to assist with that safety, but also to preserve some of the integrity of the neighborhoods,” Dent explained. “Right now, I commit that the four-person rule is still effective and it actually accomplishes what we were after. I’m certainly open to looking at alternatives, but the reason I stand by [the rule] is that right now we don’t have a better option in place and we’re researching that.”
Dent noted that the city is currently working on its 2025-26 Goals, Initiatives, and Outcomes and believes that the rule needs to stay in place until there is a better program to effectively accomplish the city’s goal.
“When it comes to housing, I think for us students that this is an issue that is very close and that we all wonder about, especially after our sophomore year,” said candidate Ayana Williams, a William & Mary student. “As far as expanding beyond the four-person rule, I’m actually in favor of that. Right now, I’m still researching the ramifications and understanding what expanding past the four-person rule would look like.”
Williams believes the true solution behind affordable housing will not come through expanding the four-person rule but through making more units available and creating competition to drive prices down. She also believes strongly in the city’s rent-ready program and believes it should be more implemented in the community.
Policing
With students perceiving an increase in policing off-campus neighborhoods, the moderators asked the candidates how they plan to improve the relationship between law enforcement and students in a way that ensures safety while not over-policing.
“So I think the best thing we can do as city council, what I’d work to do at city council, is to establish a student liaison to the city council for the express purpose of letting city council know what’s going on in the lives of our student citizens, what they experience on the streets, to make our officers aware of that situation, make our city council aware of that situation so that we can address it,” said candidate Fraser Hudgins, a member of the community and known for founding Citizens for Responsible & Sustainable Development.
Hudgins stopped short of saying there is a solution but acknowledged there need to be positive avenues of communication between students, city council, and the police.
Candidate Lindsay Barna, a professor at William & Mary, said while feedback from her students seemed to imply it was more of an on-campus issue, her students also had questions about their rights and how to conduct themselves if stopped. She stressed the need for communication and mutual respect while ensuring student safety.
“I think we need to make sure we have is a mutual respect in our community, that we need to make sure that we are not policing in such a way that we’re trying to bully students or catch them when they are doing things that are relatively safe like walking home after an evening out, but we do want to ensure everyone’s safety,” said candidate Lindsay Barna, a professor at William & Mary.
Dent noted the idea that there was an increase in policing might simply be a matter of perspective, as statistics related by Williamsburg Police Chief Sean Dunn from just before the school year had ended in April showed only five summons for issues with underage drinking during the entire school year.
Parking/Transportation
The moderators questioned the candidates regarding a decline of available parking on both Richmond Road and on campus and asked for possible solutions for both students and residents, as well as thoughts on what might improve transportation infrastructure and pedestrian safety.
“The city has looked into a number of different parking proposals and we have a couple that we are trying to further along that will provide more flexibility and availability. As we have often said, the city doesn’t have a parking problem, it has a perception of a parking problem. Just like on William & Mary, the parking is not where you want it to be. Kaplin has a lot of parking, but there’s not a lot around Sadler, so we are looking at different initiatives on that,” said incumbent Barbara Ramsey.
Ramsey added that the city is a member of the WATA board, which has been working on a recently released plan that would include more routes, dependability, and frequency, and that the city and WATA are working on adding more 15-minute routes. She noted that the city removed a few Richmond Road spaces to avoid pedestrian injury, and is using a new thermo-plastic paint on crosswalks that offers higher reflectivity and durability.
Williams said pedestrian safety should be at the forefront of all issues. She also voiced her desire to work with WATA to improve its app to make it more efficient and accurate, and also floated that parking garages may be a solution to the current parking shortages.
Environmental Issues
The conversation then turned to erosion in the College Woods, where there was general agreement the issue had been created by the Virginia Department of Transportation not doing the BMP correctly when Route 199 was built. All saw maintaining — and protecting — the College Woods as an ideal opportunity for collaboration between the city and the university. Barna noted how students use the woods like a “living laboratory,” while Dent recognized how input from professors had influenced his thinking about the Landmark Village townhome project on Strawberry Plains Road (since withdrawn) on land that abuts the woods.
“I think that any efforts by students, faculty, and residents are greatly appreciated so that the college woods are maintained and flourish,” said Ramsey. “I understand also that there’s interest by the group to purchase the land from the city to help maintain it as green space and perhaps have it added to the College Woods … collaboration for any efforts in that direction would be greatly appreciated.”
Williams agreed that the College Woods provides the opportunity for the city and the college to come together, both to preserve the woods as well as protect the environment, adding more walkable infrastructure will also help reduce the city’s carbon emissions.
Voice Inclusion
As the forum wound down to its final moments, the moderators asked how the candidates would include William & Mary student voices in its decision-making process, particularly on those issues that directly impact their lives in the city.
Barna proposed having regular forums on campus for city council to hear from students directly, while Dent encouraged students to get involved with local government, noting work sessions and business meetings offer open forums to raise issues, as well as opportunities to meet with council members after the meeting.
Hudgins, who had proposed creating a student liaison position earlier in the conversation, stressed the importance of providing an avenue of engagement that was less intimidating for students.
“I think it comes down to what are our student citizens most comfortable with in terms of expressing their honest views and their honest opinions about what’s going on,” he said, proposing the student liaison could conduct forums or roundtables among students and facilitate communication between the William & Mary community and city council.
The forum was followed by a reception, allowing candidates and students to interact one-on-one.
Three seats are open on the council. Current councilmember Caleb Rogers chose not to run for reelection. Voters will have the opportunity to choose three of the five candidates.
