YORK COUNTY — The York County Board of Supervisors (BoS) voted unanimously for York County to join the City of Williamsburg and James City County (JCC) in creating the Historic Triangle Recreation Facility Authority.
The approved concurrent Resolution R21-148(R) allows for the three localities to start the process of acquiring, constructing and operating a public recreational facility in the hopes of attracting more sports tourism to the area.
The 150,000 sq. ft. facility is slated to be built on property leased from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, near the Colonial Williamsburg Regional Visitors Center.
Of the three, York County is the last to pass the resolution. It was passed by the Williamsburg City Council on Nov. 10 and by the JCC Board of Supervisors on Nov. 9.
While answering the boards questions on the matter before the vote, York County Administrator Neil Morgan said that setting up the authority is an important step in making concrete plans for the recreational facility.
“If we adopt the proposal the authority will be stood up,” Morgan said during the meeting. “In a few months, I would anticipate coming back with the proposals for development and giving you the finances.”
The authority will be staffed with a total of six people, two from each locality. Morgan said that he, Williamsburg City Manager Andrew O. Trivette and JCC Manager Scott Stevens all intend to serve. Each manager will also designate another senior staff person to sit on the board.
When asked about costs to York County, Morgan maintained that discussion of finances at this juncture would be all be speculative.
“One of the reasons my colleagues and I believe that we ought to serve on it, especially in the first few months, is that there will be a lot of heavy lifting with financial stuff,” Morgan said to the board. “If it develops as anticipated, sometime in the next few months I will return to this body with whatever the financial proposal might be, but that would be a separate vote and this [resolution] in itself does not generate any financial commitment.”
