James City County’s new consolidated government center is going to be a reality.
The Board of Supervisors narrowly approved construction on Tuesday. A proposed new Williamsburg Regional Library branch attached to the center and road improvements near it will come back before the board for approval by early 2027.
The board voted to start the center’s design work in 2024 and began to piecemeal construction agreements in 2025.
It’s going to cost $179 million, not including interest, furniture or the cost of a 25,000-square-foot library branch addition. The project has helped fuel building fatigue for many residents worried about the price tag and how it will add to the county's debt. The concern drove a local attorney, Christopher Woodfin, to sue to put the decision up to a voter referendum, which ultimately failed.
County staff, however, contend that it can handle the cost and that a new center is necessary to serve the growing population. A 2020 study reported the workforce had already outgrown the space at its current government center. Renovating instead of replacing would have cost about $140 million, saving $39 million in the immediate, though it wouldn't bring staff all under one roof — an efficiency desirable to Administrator Scott Stevens.
The construction timeline gives the county about two years to plan for what to do with the government center campus on Mounts Bay Road. Stevens said he’s talked with Williamsburg-James City County Schools Superintendent Daniel Keever about it. WJCC is eyeing a more than $15 million renovation for its central office near James Blair Middle School.
The county has been reaching out to other groups about leasing the space as well. Stevens said his goal is not to leave the buildings sitting vacant to keep them from falling into disrepair.
“If we don’t have a plan for them and can’t find a tenant for them, then we may look at other alternatives,” he said. “I think they could have some useful life, but if we don’t have a tenant, that could be problematic for us too.”
