JAMES CITY COUNTY — The James City County (JCC) Board of Supervisors received an update on the proposed Government Center and voted on a second interim agreement that completes the design phase during its December 2024 business and regular meetings.
The project will consolidate 12 county functions into one building of 186,000 square feet. The cost to build is still comparable to the price of maintaining and updating the current facilities, it was reported.
JCC Assistant County Administrator Brad Rinehimer presented an update to the Board that explained the original 30% agreement with the Henderson Inc./Gilbane group has reached completion and the group is ready to move to phase 2.
Rinehimer pointed out that the completed items of note included soil testing, threatened and endangered species study, the program space needs study, Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) certification, as well as a traffic impact analysis.
“The programming space needs study was a lot of work. A lot of meetings. We appreciate all those that went on tours and provided input — that includes meetings we had with staff and the public,” Rinehimer stated.
LEED certifications in the county require a minimum certified level of 40. Current project tracking identified 51 points toward LEED certification. That would place the project in the LEED SILVER category. Points are awarded on a scale of 0 to 100.
Traffic Impact Analysis examined existing conditions and future build-out.
Recommendations include the additions of a right turn lane off Longhill Road to Ashbury Way, a right turn lane from Ashbury Way into Depue, and restriping of existing pavement in some locations along with optimization of signal timing during peak hours.
The original study, stated Rinehimer, “included a build-out for the facility that included a new school administration being on site so we will probably look to do a new traffic impact analysis with another potential option which we have talked about a library being on site. We don’t anticipate the requirements changing.”
Reinhimer continued that a decision needs to be made about a building addition, “We need to have more discussion on a building addition. We have talked quite a bit about school admin or potentially a library. If we are going to do it, if we are, what is it going to be? Obviously, we are planning on doing a 100% design — it doesn’t make a lot of sense to do a design on something we are definitely not going to put there. This may be a good topic for the board retreat in January to talk through to help with this discussion.”
At the regular board meeting, Supervisor Chair Ruth Larson said, “When we discuss this (project) at the retreat, I hope we will also discuss the future of this complex (the current government spaces located by Kingsmill), speaking for myself, I am interested in the county keeping it for public use. This may have some bearing on what is at the other center.”
During the meeting, Rinehimer presented an updated rendering of the space that shows a lighter brick facade encompassing the large windows lining the building.
The new resolution, which was approved unanimously by the board, approves a new agreement that will take the design process up to 100%, not to exceed $11.5 million, with construction documents.
All project funding has been preapproved by the county.
The preliminary schedule, in the second interim agreement, states initial work could begin in late 2025 with a projected competition in August 2028.
“I want to thank you (Brad) for the effort you have been putting in and the folks that have been working with us on this project. Their willingness to address concerns that we might have or to answer questions about the nature of the project. We appreciate it,” Supervisor John McGlennon said.
Larson also thanked the project team.
After the presentation. Supervisor Mike Hipple chuckled as he remarked, “Ready to go!”
