Town Crier Articles

 

 

The original James City County plan for the wooded lot behind Sullivan Square was for a fashionable, boutique hotel. For 19 years this property has remained vacant, and the New Town community was built up all around it. The lack of investors and a downturn of the hotel market in Williamsburg has forced the property owner to revise the planned use for this area. Instead of a hotel, the Whitmore Company plans to develop the property into a one- and two- bedroom apartment complex. These upscale, luxury apartment units and associated amenities will be designed to appeal to young professionals.

 

The Planned Apartment Complex. The Whitmore Company plans to construct four buildings on the site. Their plan places a four-story building with 54 apartments on Shannon Place adjacent to Sullivan Square. This building will house a lobby, administrative office, clubhouse, billiards room, pool, and fitness center for the use by Manor on the Green residents. 

 

Two additional three-story buildings will be constructed on the sides of the property. One of them will be located on Center Street and the other will be on Foundation Street. Each of these buildings will have 24 single-bedroom apartments. The fourth building, a two-story carriage house, will be constructed along Lydias Drive. It will contain four large, two-bedroom apartments built over multiple enclosed private garages. According to the developer, the luxury units in the apartment complex will provide an amenity-rich place for young, upwardly mobile professionals as well as for people opting to downsize from larger homes. 

All of the buildings in the complex will have elevators for access to the upper floors. One hundred and twelve parking spaces, “screened from public view,” for their residents’ use will be located in the center area between the four apartment buildings. The complex will be served by three entrances: one on Center Street another on Lydias Drive and a third on Foundation Street.

 

The Developer. The Whitmore Company has experience in building and managing high-quality, multi-unit housing in the Portsmouth and Hampton areas. They have specialized in both new construction and adapting older historic buildings for residential use. Once constructed, the Whitmore Company stays on to manage the properties for its investors. This business plan makes it less likely that the surrounding community will be left with unsolved problems after construction is completed. The Whitmore company has a good reputation for the management of its rental properties. They also provide on-site management availability 24 hours a day and include a daily valet trash pickup service for their renters.

 

 

 

 

The New Town Residential Association (NTRA) Board of Directors has several major concerns regarding the development of this property. Board representatives recently met with Whitmore Company management and have raised the following issues with the developer. 

 

Insufficient Parking. Parking for the residents is a major concern for New Town. As planned, the apartment complex will have a negative impact on parking in the surrounding community.  Street parking in this area is already in short supply. The current Manor on the Green plan provides only 112 parking spaces for the planned 106 residential units. It does not consider or address tenant families that will have more than one automobile, visitor parking, parking for development employees, and delivery/services parking. 

 

The plan also mentions the use of 36 street parking spaces located around the perimeter of the site as well as the use of other parking spaces in New Town for use by its apartment residents. Parking in the area around the proposed construction site is already scarce, especially at night, and will only be made appreciably worse when the apartment complex is occupied. While this plan may meet the James City County parking requirements for New Town, it would not be prudent to build this apartment complex without including additional dedicated parking for its residents. 

 

Whitmore Company perspective: 

 

 

Stormwater Mitigation. Currently the stormwater that falls on the Manor on the Green site percolates through the soil where it is naturally filtered. However, this development will make the site largely impervious to water and create large amounts of runoff which will be directed into an already stressed stormwater management system.  The short- and long-term impact of this additional runoff has not been fully addressed in Whitmore’s conceptual plan.  Whitmore advised us that the current stormwater system was designed with a building in mind; however, they will research the condition of this existing infrastructure considering issues raised by the Board.

 

Sewer System Capacity. The sizing and capacity of the existing sewer system was developed to support a hotel and not apartments. Constructing an apartment complex in place of a hotel will bring two or three times more people into the area to use the existing underground infrastructure. The planned residential apartments will include 106 kitchens as well as 106 laundries that were not considered or included in the original plan for the construction of a hotel. This will create a significant increase in wastewater that must be handled by the existing sewer system. It is unclear whether the existing sewer capacity is sufficient to support the development of an apartment complex of this size given our community's current experience with sewer system problems. The Board has raised this concern with the developer. It should be addressed by the Whitmore Company and James City County prior to construction. 

 

Construction Impact on the Existing New Town Infrastructure. The tree clearing process, the site development, and the subsequent construction will create a large volume of traffic in and out of New Town.  Much of this additional traffic will include large trucks with very heavy loads. This heavy vehicle traffic will cause significant wear and tear on our roads, curbs, and walkways and has the potential for significant damage. The Whitmore Company monitors the before and after condition of their sites, in order to return any damaged roadway areas to good condition. However, this impact is not just immediately adjacent to the construction site but will also be along whatever arteries the construction traffic uses for access and egress. This wear and tear as well as any damage that may occur to our existing infrastructure during the construction phase will need further discussion among all parties.

 

 

 

The Whitmore company is working on architectural renderings for the site.  The clearing of trees from the property will be an environmental loss to our community and we asked for their landscaping plans to consider maximizing greenery. Later this summer we expect that representatives will come to New Town to discuss their more detailed development plans with members of our community. We welcome this dialogue.

 

While we have always known that this property would eventually be developed, we must do everything we can to ensure that the development has a minimal impact on the quality of life for those currently living in New Town and reduce any negative impact on visitors who use the outstanding restaurants, retail stores, theater, and other facilities both during and after construction.  Having a vibrant rental option in our midst could help to keep our commercial businesses stable.  It is the Board’s hope that the Whitmore Company will work with us to satisfactorily resolve any issues that impact our community.