Blog Williamsburg

General Discussions

Affordable Housing in Williamsburg

The following letter was sent to the Planning Commission. I am posting it here in its entirety. - Joe Hertzler

December 17, 2007
Dear [city of Williamsburg Planning] Commissioners:
The city of Williamsburg is fortunate to be a place where people want to live. Young people move here to go to college; some decide to stay, work and raise families. Others see this as a vibrant and inviting place to retire. Along that continuum, families and individuals have varied needs in the type of housing they choose and the services they require. In meeting those needs, Williamsburg must find a sustainable balance for growth in both housing and business development. 

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Historic Preservation

Empowering Neighborhoods

By Brad Reed, Townsman Staff
Thursday, March 08, 2007

Let’s say you’re upset because a developer has proposed building an enormous house next door that would block sunlight in your backyard.

As long as the proposed building conforms to the town’s zoning bylaws, you couldn’t do anything to stop it from being built.

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Williamsburg's Comprehensive Plan

Let’s Be Clear on Density, by Roger Guernsey, AIA

Our community is growing. People who have grown up in Hampton Roads are having families. Those who moved here to go to college are staying to work, continue in graduate school, and raise their families. Others are moving here to retire. Still others are buying homes where their children can live while they attend college, since student housing is scarce. Growth is a fact that we must plan for in a reasonable way as a community. As jobs are created in various sectors, we must be able to provide an array of housing types to accommodate those who need housing here. 

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Williamsburg's Comprehensive Plan

Why I Plan to Stop 22

I wonder if I should stop 22.

At the next Planning Commission meeting, I wonder if I should do my part to stop any further progress toward increasing the allowable density in the Center City area to 22 units per acre. This would mean not even endorsing a “watered down” version at 14 as some have argued would be a plasible alternative.

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Williamsburg's Comprehensive Plan

Welcome to town

From an article in The Daily Press Opinion, by Carol Capo, Associate Editor

Welcome to town - Higher density would be right at home in parts of Williamsburg February 26, 2007

With make-believe towns popping up everywhere from Newport News to rural Suffolk, it’s helpful to remember that there are, among us, real towns. In addition to - or instead of, in some cases - building imitations, which are really subdivisions in town garb, we need to be doing everything we can to protect these real towns and help them not just survive, but thrive.

The city of Williamsburg is a case in point. It has been a town, a center of population, commerce, education and government, for more than 300 years. Today, thanks largely to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, it has reclaimed much of its once-tarnished charm and once-neglected history. It is alive and flourishing, if imperfect. It’s going about its business of being a town, as well as a tourist destination.

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