A recent talk on the City of Williamsburg’s preliminary Capital Improvement Program for fiscal year 2015 showed $1.5 million set aside for schools and revealed possible plans for future road improvements.
City Council met Saturday for their winter retreat to discuss, among other things, the city’s CIP, a five-year list of upcoming projects and their associated costs. It was first of several talks on the plans, which City Manager Jack Tuttle emphasized could see significant changes as the CIP is further developed.
The highest dollar ticket item on the preliminary CIP is placeholder amount of $1.5 million for schools. The reason for the allocation has not been specified. Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools is looking to build a fourth middle school and find a new home for their central office, which is now inside the former James Blair Middle School.
For street repaving, $900,000 is set aside preliminarily, an amount matched 50-50 by the Virginia Department of Transportation through the Revenue Sharing Program. City Engineer Aaron small explained the scope of that project in November, saying it will include portions of several city streets including all of Yorkshire Drive and all of Ireland Street.
The preliminary outline also shows $690,000 for the Parks and Recreation Department. That money would include substantial upgrades to some of the docks on the city reservoir in Waller Mill Park.
The early plan shows $558,000 to replace city vehicles, $211,500 for improvements on York Street, $200,000 of just-in-case money, $150,000 for library renovations and $150,000 for courthouse maintenance projects and $145,000 for improvements at Quarterpath Park.
The preliminary CIP also shows:
- $75,000 for replacement of guardrails in the city
- $50,000 for stormwater management projects
- $30,000 for iPad replacements
- $30,000 for computer replacements
- $20,000 for bicycle facility improvements
Two other high priorities on the preliminary list were projects along Ironbound Road and Capitol Landing Road.
The Ironbound project would be a realignment and widening of the intersection in front of current the Williamsburg-James City County central office in the James Blair building. The Capitol Landing Road project would include changes on Capitol Landing that would improve access to the Northeast Triangle.
The Ironbound project was shown in in the preliminary CIP as starting in 2017 with $500,000 being spent that year on the improvement and $50,000 being spent the next. The project would include new bike lanes, sidewalks and a three-lane road. Tuttle said that the plans for Ironbound are the closest to being ready for construction.
A large overhaul of Capital Landing Road may also be coming to the city, which would create a new entrance into Colonial Williamsburg. Tuttle warned that the project was in very early phases and it would be a project that would require cooperation from several property owners and CWF.
The aim of the project would be to realign Capitol Landing (Route 5 near Colonial National Historic Parkway) to create easier access to CWF, economic opportunities and an ease of traffic flow. The project does not yet have an amount attached to it in the preliminary CIP, but Vice Mayor Freiling said it sounded expensive to him and Tuttle confirmed it would be an expensive project.
Doug Pons suggested using a CDA to fund the project, a type of loan that allows a community to jointly fund public improvements. CDAs can be funded in different ways and Tuttle suggested the possibility of funding the Capitol Landing Road project through a CDA that would be paid back partly through an incremental tax for businesses that would benefit from the improvements.
Mayor Clyde Haulman said the option would be tricky because even with the offering of an infrastructure improvement, an extra tax could be a disincentive to participate. Tuttle said since there are potential safety issues on the road, there may be other pots of money from the state to fund the project.
Officials also discussed improving Parkway Drive, a project that is shown in the preliminary CIP as a $1.8 million item over 2017 and 2018 and one Freiling called a safety issue since there is no bike lane. Right now, Tuttle said the thought is the project could be funded through the state Revenue Sharing Program, the same program that’s being used to repave roads in town in the coming year.
