Town Crier Articles

Shirley Park, the sixth and final official New Town neighborhood, is nearing completion with a “turnover” expected to occur in Spring 2026. This Q&A explains what this means for New Town residents and the New Town Residential Association (NTRA).

 

 

Turnover is the process by which the developer (“ABVA”) transfers the ownership of the infrastructure and common areas of Shirley Park to those responsible for the long-term maintenance of the neighborhood. For example, NTRA will assume full responsibility for the common areas (think: green spaces) including some of our streets/alleys and walkways, and the drainage systems, including the stormwater BMPs (ponds). The primary goal of NTRA is to ensure the project is completed in a satisfactory manner to limit the future liability of the homeowners association. Our governing documents (Section 4.9 of the New Town Residential Master Declaration) state that these common areas shall convey “in a condition acceptable to the Association.”

 

The Virginia Department of Transportation will take over the primary streets, sidewalks and sewer lines. Other areas may be under the authority of James City County.

 

 

The developer makes a formal request to the county, VDOT and NTRA for the turnover. The county’s primary responsibility is to ensure that the development was built according to approved plans, as well as to sign-off on sound wastewater management practices. The county holds a type of surety bond on the developer that is released upon satisfactory completion of the project as laid out in its JCC approved plans. VDOT’s focus is roads, public sidewalks, and sewers. NTRA will focus on common areas, landscaping issues, sidewalks/curbs, collection areas, and drainage. These features must meet what was in the original plans for the neighborhood – i.e. additional wish list ideas are not a consideration.

 

 

In August, the NTRA Board appointed a Shirley Park Turnover Committee, comprised of Shirley Park residents. There are nine committee members and the committee is chaired by John Lewis. The committee’s role is advisory, and the Board ultimately votes on whether to “accept” Shirley Park from the developer. Sommer Wrona is the primary Board liaison to the committee.

 

A key piece of the turnover process is an engineering study conducted by an outside firm (see NTRA Policy 5.1-Turnover or Acceptance of Assets). Think of this as a “property inspection” for the entire community. This study will be conducted by the Virginia Beach office of Giles Flythe Engineers. 

 

Another very important part of this process is input from residents, and you may report any issues to shirleyparktransition@gmail.com. You should have seen flyers around the neighborhood or in your inbox. We encourage you to include photos/videos of any issues you see. Please note, the transition cannot address issues on your personal property or home, except possibly as they relate to broader community issues, such as drainage. To date, more than two dozen emails have been received documenting issues with drainage, landscaping, sidewalks, common areas, roadways, and collection areas. Based on the recommendations contained in the engineering study, this residents punch list and other factors, the Committee will consider its recommendations for the Board including whether additional investigation is needed.

 

 

After holding its initial organizational meeting, the committee participated in a detailed walk-thru of landscape issues with Sommer and representatives from Phan’s Landscaping. The committee has subsequently met with representatives from James City County regarding stormwater management and accessibility issues. These conversations are ongoing and we may work with other county departments as needed.

The committee held an introductory call with the engineering firm in November to share concerns and outline priorities. Giles Flythe Engineers is expected to be onsite in the coming weeks, and the committee will have ongoing dialog. ABVA’s representative had requested a preliminary meeting with the committee but this has not yet been scheduled.

 

 

Please remain vigilant about observing and reporting any deficiencies you see in our beautiful neighborhood! We regularly monitor the inbox at shirleyparktransition@gmail.com and welcome your questions, comments and concerns. We will keep you informed as the transition process progresses.

December 10 – 7:00 PM – New Town Residential Association Annual Members Meeting and Election of Board of Directors

Legacy Hall, 4301 New Town Avenue

 

December 12 – 6:30 PM - New Town Residential Association Annual Holiday Party

Legacy Hall, 4301 New Town Avenue

 

Every weekend in December – Visit with Santa Claus on Saturday and Sunday afternoons thru December 21

12:00pm-3:30pm

 

Santa’s Workshop

4915 Courthouse Street, located to the right of Regal New Town

 

It’s time to prepare for a new year in the life of our New Town Residential Association (NTRA) Board of Directors. Four of the five positions on the NTRA Board will be up for election in November-December. The residents that we elect will guide our Association into the future. 

 

Three of our present Board members are completing their 2-year terms of service and the term of one Board-elected member will end in December. (We are seeking three volunteers to serve for 2 years and one volunteer for a 1 year term in order to balance out/stagger future terms of office.) WE NEED YOU! Fresh ideas of new Board members can help improve our community.  

 

 

Candidates may come from any neighborhood, but per our by-laws we cannot have more than two Board members from any single NTRA neighborhood. Our returning Board member, Sommer Wrona, lives in Charlotte Park. Therefore, one candidate from Charlotte Park and two candidates from each of our other neighborhoods could be elected to the 2026-2027 Board.  

 

 

 - Time: A willingness to serve, and a schedule sufficiently flexible, to allow for 

- Commitment to taking seriously the legal and fiduciary responsibilities of the position. Do you have sufficient commitment and ability to function as part of a team where members must value, respect, support, and collaborate with one another so that the essential community business gets done? How about the self-management needed to keep confidential information confidential? Will you prioritize the Board’s legal responsibilities, and the best interests and welfare of the whole NTRA community over personal agendas or loyalties? 

 

- No Outstanding Violations: Candidates for the Board of Directors or any of our official committees cannot have uncleared or unaddressed violations. If you think you would be willing to serve NTRA as a Board member — please, please, please! - clear your violations before you put your name forward. 

 

 

If you believe you can handle the time commitments, the investments of self, and the responsibilities of an NTRA Board member, and are not in a violation status, you will be doing your neighbors a huge favor by becoming a candidate for our Board! 

 

Do this by sending an email by November 6, 2025 with your full contact information to ntra.secretary@gmail.com, along with a picture of yourself and a brief biographical statement. This email should include relevant vocational information, your special skills, or earned credentials, and your reasons for being willing to serve our community as a Board member.  

The first Saturday of October was a beautiful day. The bright sky and mild temperature drew New Towners out of their homes to celebrate the coming of fall at New Town’s fourth Fall Festival.  From 2:00 on, families with young children in tow, young adults, and seniors approached the Village Walk green, which was decorated with scare crows, ghosts, and pumpkins.  The pace of their steps increased, as they heard Activities Committee member Jon Tomas’s flawless rendition of a carnival barker’s patter, as he urged them to participate in the afternoon’s games, races and other activities.   

 

At our old-fashioned Fall Festival, there was something for everyone. It began with kids scrambling to find pumpkin-shaped eggs filled with candy in our fall version of the traditional Easter Egg hunt.  Children then howled with laughter as they vied to hit their opponent with a handful of whipped cream in the game Pie Face Show Down. The “losers” happily licked fingerfuls of the cream off their faces. To the delight of their parents, they also burned off energy, running from area to area where they “earned” candy as they tossed bean bags, rope rings and balls onto a variety of objects, scrambled through tunnels, stepped from box to box to box, shimmied under  the limbo pole, raced each other carrying an egg on a spoon, and hopped in old-fashioned flour sacks. Winners of the races, which were particularly popular this year, and the mummy wrap contest won prizes.   

 

 

 

The kids, however, needed no enticement to build and then destroy structures made of cardboard bricks, although one little guy built his house with no intention of letting anyone touch it. Sometimes holding hands with parents, children also happily marched to music around a giant circle of numbers as they dreamed of winning one of the three giant cookie cakes. They also expressed their artistic inclinations by painting pumpkins, which they happily took home to adorn their front steps.   

 

Teens, adults, and seniors joined in the pumpkin painting, competed in tossing bean bags at the cornhole boards, and hit a few croquet balls.  Others simply enjoyed the happy vibes of the occasion as they basked in the gentle sunshine and companionship and enjoyed the fall-themed music provided by Rick Richards.

 

   

 

Everyone enjoyed the homemade Halloween decorated cookies, the three varieties of popcorn, apples, oranges and cider, and many also enjoyed two hours of freedom from electronics and from the stresses of modern life.  Reflecting on the event, one little guy said to his mother: “Mommy, this is so much fun.  Can we do it tomorrow?” and another mother observed that her children “were beyond happy.”   

 

There are lots of other fun photos in the website Photo Album - 2025 Fall Festival Fun.

 

We would like to thank the members of the Activities Committee, including Susan Schlimme, Jon Thomas, Terri  Finn, Liz Fones-Wolf, Gayle Ducan, Ruth Burgess, Linda Ellis, and Jennifer Morgan, for organizing and staffing the Fall Festival. They and twelve other New Town volunteers, including Merry Thomas, Ken Fones-Wolf, Lynn Griswold, Tracy Burd, Angela Lesnett,  Mark Patterson, Darce Patterson, Bobbie Falquet, Anne-Isabelle Hughes and Scott Ellis, made the Fall Festival possible.    

 

The Activities Committee next is event is a Holiday Party on Friday, December 12,  6:30-9:00 at Legacy Hall.

The New Town Residential Association (NTRA) Board of Directors elects the officers of the Association (President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer) shortly after the annual election of Board members during the Board’s organizational meeting. Our governing documents require that the President of the Association be a Board member.  Board membership is not required for the other roles, including the Secretary and Treasurer positions. They can be New Town residents or others that are found to be qualified by the Board of Directors. Holding the position of Secretary or Treasurer is a way that renters in New Town can become involved in governing our community.

 

Currently, our Association needs a dedicated individual to serve as our Association Treasurer.  We need an individual with a strong financial background who can oversee the financial activities of the NTRA and help ensure that Chesapeake Bay Management Company is correctly managing the Association’s financial assets. If the Board is unable to find a volunteer to serve as Treasurer, it will be necessary to hire a certified public accountant to perform the service which will require an increase in owners’ general assessments.

 

 

It's just about time for New Town’s old-fashioned fun-filled, FREE Fall Festival in the Village Walk neighborhood on the corner of Casey and Settlers Market Boulevard.  

 

Fun for all ages - we promise. Invite your family and friends to join in. Who can resist some cider, popcorn and other goodies? As an added treat, there will be drawings for a large pumpkin and for gift certificates donated by the New Town Commercial Association.

 

Children’s activities, including shark toss and mummy wrapping, races, pie face showdown, a kid’s obstacle course and best of all, all participants win prizes. Adults can join the kids in pumpkin painting, playing croquet, cornhole and in the cake walk, of which there are four rounds, and the winners take home a large cookie cake.  

 

Remember, the Festival begins with a children’s Halloween “egg” hunt at 2:15 across the street from the main venue. So get there early!!

 

Come to participate or just share the good time, the kids’ joy and the music.

 

 

James City County has many wonderful parks and trails, but for those who love to get close to wildlife the hidden gem of these is the Greensprings Nature Trail.  This three-and-a-half-mile trail offers a landscape of wetlands that you can cross on wooden boardwalks, beaver ponds and forests. Amid this natural wonderland, you can easily hear the calls of birds and see turtles and deer.  Interpretative signs help you understand a bit about area’s flora and fauna and history. But there is so much more to see that most of us miss as we bike or stroll down the trail. 

 

Photographer and self-taught naturalist Paul Griswold, a New Town resident, walks the trail almost every day, often joined by his wife Lynn, as he immerses himself in the Greensprings environment, documenting what he sees and what he has learned about nature with his camera.

 

Please join us on Tuesday, September 16 at 12:00 at the NTRA Meeting Room where we can all virtually walk through Greensprings with Paul as he shares his amazing photographs and stories about life in the wetland and forest of our region.    

 

Feel free to bring a bag lunch and we will provide water and cookies.

During the week before our August 23rd pool party, we finally had a respite from high heat and humidity with temperatures in the seventies and rain. Fortunately, it dried out and warmed up for the Saturday party, although the cooler weather left the pool a bit chilly, which deterred all but the kids and bravest adult swimmers. Still, there was a good turnout as residents enjoyed the gentle sun and breeze as they sprawled out on lounge chairs or chatted with neighbors. Everyone enjoyed the pizza, cookies and watermelon.   

 

Here are a few fun moments: 

   

 

 

   

 

Today - Labor Day, Monday, September 1 the pool closes for the season, but there are still more NTRA Activities Committee events to look forward to in September and October, including a noon-time talk about the Greensprings nature trail on September 16 and the always popular Fall Festival on October 4. See you there!  

 

 

 

 

It is hard to believe but fall and Halloween are right around the corner. Help us celebrate the color-filled season at New Town’s old-fashioned fun-filled, FREE Fall Festival in the Village Walk neighborhood on the corner of Casey and Settlers Market Boulevard.  

 

Adults and children, family and friends are invited. Guests will enjoy cider, popcorn and other goodies. As an added treat, there will be drawings for a large pumpkin and for gift certificates donated by the New Town Commercial Association.

 

Children’s games will include shark toss and mummy wrapping, races, pie face showdown, a kids' obstacle course and all participants win prizes. Adults can join kids in pumpkin painting, playing croquet, and cornhole and in a cake walk, of which there are four rounds, and the winners take home a large cookie cake.  

 

Fall Festival begins with a children’s Halloween “egg” hunt at 2:15 across the street from the main venue. So get there early!!

 

Come to participate or just share the good time, the kids’ joy and the music.

 

COULD YOU HELP? The NTRA Activities Committee is looking for some large cardboard boxes (to step into) to use during the kids' obstacle course. Also, if you would like to volunteer that afternoon, contact Liz Fones-Wolf at efwolf@wvu.edu.

 

The NTRA Board of Directors met with Shirley Park homeowners on July 30 to discuss the upcoming transfer of common areas from the Developer to the Association. Before that transfer occurs, the Board is conducting an assessment of outstanding problems that should be addressed before the development is considered complete and "in a condition acceptable to the Association" per our Master Declaration. A group of volunteers, selected in the meeting, will work with the Board and an engineer to identify common-area issues, determine necessary remediations, and estimate their cost. Of particular concern to attendees were:

While dates for James City County inspection and transfer are not yet set, Board members encourage Shirley Park homeowners to make note soon of any outstanding property concerns for consideration. To report any issues with drainage, curbs and sidewalks, landscaping and trees, signage, or other major items, please include a location, a description of the problem, and a photograph in a message to the Board at ntra.secretary@gmail.com.