Councilman Williams update 5/6/26

Communication Tower approved, water and sewer increase discussions, Fire Department building approval, Capital Improvement Plan and potential for allowing small scale production were all on Wednesday’s agenda.

Kenny Allison was absent.

Budget Amendment #19-26, Amends and Appropriates FY25-26 Budget, General Fund for VRSA grant proceeds - $1,100 in grant funds moved to general budget. Vote 6-0

Council Member Reports 

Planning Commission - Community enhancement officer hired.

Parks and Rec - Several events were mentioned including May 30^th town-wide yard sale and Memorial Day celebration.

Schools - Last day is May 15^th. 29 Seniors were in the bachelorette program. Staff appreciation and graduations will be next week.

Finance -Bill reminders and ongoing budget discussions.

Public Safety - the next neighborhood watch will be Wednesday, May 13th at 6:30 in the community room at the police department.  Worship watch meeting 5/21/26 at the Little Zion Baptist Church 6 PM.  Burn ban still in effect.

Economic Development - Initiative for small businesses. Financial services discussion. Tourism – marketing focus on shoulder season and ad campaign are current focus.

Nonprofit - Attended first alliance meeting and mentioned River Counties Alliance Club.

Mayor – New dog groomer business in town.  Shout out to town clerk.

Proclamation for National Law Enforcement Week - Read by Mayor 

Proclamation, Celebrating the Heart of Colonial Beach: Small Business and Tourism - Read by Mrs. Grandstaff 

Public comment

Citizen – Regarding towers, stated radiation can cause cancer up to 1500 feet per Google. Why not place closer to public works property. Eye sore with the light

Citizen - Town Clerk helpful and knowledgeable. Supports small scale production.  Downtown Colonial Beach thanked Public Works for recent event support.

Ordinance No. 778, Amends Section 8-2 of the Town of Colonial Beach Zoning Ordinance to List “Communications Facility” as Permitted with the approval of a Conditional Use within the General Commercial (C-1) Zoning District (ZTA 26 -01) Public Hearing was held on April 9, 2026. - this was to edit the definition of C1 to add communication towers. Vote 6-0

Ordinance No. 779, Amends Section 18-7 of the Town of Colonial Beach Zoning Ordinance to include Telecommunications Tower and Related Facilities Permitting and Regulations Public Hearing was held on April 9, 2026 - This is to allow towers in C1. Many concerns have been addressed but not everyone is convinced it’s good or necessary.  I supported because I believe it benefits the community overall.  I did raise concerns on how we were told spot zoning is not a good option but then we carved out an area around the Food Lion shopping center as the only allowed area (see map previously provided).  Vote 6-0

Confirmation of Determination of Substantial Accord to permit a telecommunication tower and related communications facility equipment of Tax Map Parcel 3A8-1-2, New Monrovia Road - procedural vote 6-0

Resolution # 18-26, Approves Conditional Use Permit (CUP 26-02) – THE TOWERS, LLC, a joint venture of Verizon Wireless and Vertical Bridge, requests approval of a Conditional Use Permit to construct a Telecommunications Tower and Related Communications Facility Equipment in the Town of Colonial Beach. The property is identified as Tax Map Parcel ID #3A8-1-2 on Monrovia Road.

Public Hearing was held on April 9, 2026 - The applicant requested approval for conditional use permit to add a communications tower behind Atlantic Union Bank. As discussed previously, this is a 150’ mono-pole tower, will be surrounded by trees and from the experts I’ve talked to will cause no significant risks to residents. Vote 6-0

PUBLIC HEARING, Confirmation of the Determination by Planning Commission of Substantial Accord (SA 26-01) – Colonial Beach Volunteer Fire Department requests a Substantial Accord Determination for an emergency services establishment plus community facility. Property Identified as Tax Map Parcel ID #3A2 -88, 8 through 11. - Procedural vote 6–0.

PUBLIC HEARING, Ordinance No. 781, Approval of Rezoning with Conditional

Use Permit (RZ-C 26-01) – Colonial Beach Volunteer Fire Department request to rezone a 0.7 acre property from General Commercial (C-1) and General Residential (R-2) to Commercial-Residential (CR) with Conditional Use Permit to allow community facility use in a Commercial-Residential (CR) District. Property Identified as Tax Map Parcel ID #3A2 -88, 8 through 11. - The Volunteer Fire Department has requested a re-zoning in order to put a community /storage building behind Lenny‘s. Half the property is zoned commercial and the other half is zone residential so they requested a re-zoning in order to put their building in that location.  This will help them raise money and provide much needed storage space for trucks and equipment. Many concerns have been addressed so if you would like more information, you should watch the YouTube video of the meeting.  Vote 6-0

PUBLIC HEARING, Resolution #20-26, Adoption of the Colonial Beach Capital

Improvement Plan for Fiscal Years 2027-2031 - This is the capital improvement plan we are required to review and pass every year.  It includes any items over $50K or Information Technology items over $20K. 

Citizen- had several concerns, including shoreline, not sure we have a grasp. Spending money to make things worse. Sidewalks ADA forced but doesn’t address any additional areas. The plan is hard to follow. Concerns over the North shore Line, will the $750K fix and will owners be considered. VIMS grant. Mentioned satellite imagery.

Citizen - requested we bump sidewalks to the top. Can’t walk on sidewalks they’re awful and a risk management problem.

I stated that I like the additional details but it’s still appearing a bit confusing and there’s too much on the plan.  Much of these items are obviously not in our budget. It was over $8M.  I raised the concern over priorities for example staff listed the Dwight Avenue extension as a number one even though council did not prioritize that during our special work session last year.  I also brought up Castlewood Park and parking area being a safety concern raised in 2020, 2024 and the mayor and vice mayor both suggested that it should be added to the CIP.  The consensus was that we would add it to the CIP as part of the zero plan which addresses town-wide safety concerns and opens up the opportunities for numerous grant funds.  Mr. Wood pulled his usual punches by pitting town staff against council members. He asked the public work Director if there were safety concerns.  There are obviously safety concerns or staff would not have put slow stencils all over the road and added signs. See 2024 article https://www.newsontheneck.com/news/councilman-raises-concerns-about-safety-at-castlewood-park/article_d56cd3da-28cd-11ef-a6c3-a788a85a7eb9.html   Also, the town manager had mentioned in a meeting that it would have to be added to the CIP in order to be addressed.  The parking area and path to the park are the major safety concerns and has been mentioned numerous times (news article was written on it). Lisa Grandstaff backed up my concerns with a recent experience in that area where cars use that parking lot as a continual cut through/ road.  Council asked staff to clean up and clarify language.  The Mayor and I agreed that an additional work session in August to address priorities etc. would be beneficial. 

PUBLIC HEARING, Ordinance No. 782, Amends the Town of Colonial Beach Town Code, Chapter 21, “Water and Sewers,” by increasing the residential flat rate water and sewer user fees - this hearing was to consider the $23.41 per quarter increase.  

Citizen - hard to pay bills. What are you gonna do with the money and meters? Connection fees should be equal across the board. Why are they not?

Citizen - this is considered a disproportional tax. Realistic constraint (required). The system encourages wastefulness. Poor planning. Should consider cuts in the general budget, houses, water, and sewer until we can get things corrected. We don’t have the technical expertise in house. Look for other funding sources. This is due to our own mismanagement.

I asked that the below emails received be considered.

Write in- vote no for increase.

Write in- no increase. Too many increases. Consider people on fixed income.

Write in- I oppose the increase. Excessive. concerns over the 156K in connection fee discounts.

Write in- concerned over the increase. Consider people on fixed income. What about all the new construction. What about the 160 K in discounts for connection fees.

Write in- vote no for the increase. Council needs policy to not allow town manager to give deep discounts. We need a town-wide audit on who is paying and not.

Write in- No increase.

Write in- No increase.

Write in- Concern over meters not being used or installed on new properties. Oppose the increase.

Write in - No increase. Already raised last year. Need to do better with budget.

Write in - No increase

Write in - Vote no. Find other ways to make cuts.

Write in - Don’t increase you already increased last year.

Write in - Question developer fee discounts. Consider the impacts of the increase.

PUBLIC HEARING, Ordinance No. 783, Amends the Town of Colonial Beach Town Code, Chapter 21, “Water and Sewers,” by increasing the commercial flat rate water and sewer fees - this is to consider increasing commercial by the same amount of $23.41 per quarter.

Citizen - question for fee drift and muse are paying. Why is peddlers market the same versus El Toro for example?

Citizen – commercial usage. Not doing good. Revenue from developers waiving fees, which affects the bottom line. No oversight on tens of thousands of discounts. We need the revenues do more homework.

Council discussion – I raised my concern, mentioning the 12 write-ins listed above. The Mayor gave a long speech about how she opposes using the meters we have invested millions of dollars in. Stated how part-time residents subsidize year-round residence water/sewer bills. Stated rates would increase dramatically for full-time residence. Wood stated I’m single will my bill go down?  I asked for a status on the meter reading for businesses and the public works. Director stated most are being read, but there are a few that are still not operating.  57% of all meters are currently operable in town leaving about 1800 left to be repaired replaced. It was also stated that the meter warranty did not include labor so the town is spending significant amounts of money to replace all dead meters.

I stated that I did not agree with the assumption that reading meters would increase everyone’s bill. I stated we are not even considering the reduced cost of conserving.  Mr. Wood went on a rant about how there were no backdoor deals on connection fees, and gave his word on that.  I stated that I did not want to get into an argument over this, but $15k for 9 condos and 2 businesses is a major deal.  The discount has been documented in my blogs and it shows council did not sign off or have any awareness of the $150k+ discounts the town manager approved.  It’s hard to argue the discount was a front door deal but easy to argue a 6 figure discount is a deal.

PUBLIC HEARING, Resolution #21-26, Adoption and Appropriation of Fiscal Year 2027 Budget and Adoption and Appropriation of the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget for the Colonial Beach School Board – We were given a brief overview of the budget. I believe there is still room for cuts, but don’t think I have enough support from council. I’d like to find ways to make cuts so that the water sewer does not have to be increased this year.

Council Action (Deferred until May 20, 2026)

Authorize Public Hearings – Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA 26-03) Amends Section 20-2 of the Town of Colonial Beach Zoning Ordinance to add “small scale production” definition and Zoning Text Amendment (26-04) Amends Section 7-3 (RC), Section 8-2 (C-1), and Section 9-3 (C-R) Conditional Uses (Conditional Use Permit Required) of the Town of Colonial Beach Zoning Ordinance to allow for “small scale production, not exceeding 6,000 square feet.” - this is to set a public hearing as requested so that small scale production can be added to the above referenced zoning.  The specific request is for coffee roasteries. Hearing set for June 3rd.  Vote 6-0

Councilman David Williams

Please email or call with questions or comments:

dwilliams@colonialbeachva.gov

540-604-4335