Councilman Williams Update 6/4/25

Pier Lease Agreements, Floor Area Ratio, Utility Billing and Capital Improvement Priorities were all on Wednesday’s agenda.  

Approval of Minutes: August 16, 2023 and September 6, 2023 and September 20, 2023 - Yes you are reading right, this was to approve some very old minutes from two years back. Vote 7-0 

Council Member Reports

Public Safety - Congrats to CB officer for getting his drug certification.

Planning Commission- 110 short term rental permits have been issued. There is still a good number of delinquent STR‘s - notifications are being sent.

Finance – tax and utility bills have been sent; next water bill will have the new total of $385.86

Economic Development – they will be discussing parking at their next meeting.

Parks and Rec - Their last meeting was canceled, events coming like: baby contest, pageant, Firemen's Parade, Fireworks and Father’s Day car show (see bottom of blog for details).

Public Works - mentioned various activities like routine maintenance and pothole repairs.

Mayor - mentioned new base commander at Dalgren, Save the Bay Day this Saturday, T-ball field will have its initial game this Sunday at 2 PM, community yard sale was a success. The bugs being found on the beach are harmless Beatles.

Public Comment

Citizen – asked how the monthly billing would be rolled out and potential impacts on cash flow.

Lisa - She mentioned that a constituent has been waiting for a FOIA reply.

PUBLIC HEARING, Resolution #16-25, Approves Lease Agreement for Dock/Pier Construction on Town Property, Powell Duggan, Town Attorney - we were given an overview of pier lease history.  Roughly 25 years ago town put pier leases out for bid to include 40-year contracts and there were about 7 homes that have long-term leases which requires them to maintain the shoreline. The concern with extended leases beyond five years is that the lease would have to go out to the public for bid so a person could potentially get a lease on a property in front of somebody else’s home.  A couple of citizens wrote in with concerns one even saying leases are double taxation. Town attorney said this was not double taxation since it’s to lease the property not a tax. There was some discussion on shoreline maintenance and if there’s a way to incentivize property owners to maintain shoreline (Monroe Bay side only).  I suggested possibly giving a discount or waving the lease fee for people that did restore their Shoreline.  The Assistant town manager suggested that we raise the five-year lease fee from $1250 to $2000. I said I was a concerned that we are raising by 60% and he said he used private boat slips as a cost comparison since there are no surrounding areas we could compare to.  He also stated that five years ago it was raised by 60%, which is why they are considering doing it again. I stated I didn’t really support this, especially since leasers already pay real estate tax on the property. I also stated that this was a relatively small amount of additional revenue and why single out roughly 50 properties to raise an additional $7500. Wood suggested that we need every penny we can get.  There was also concern about lease language, different agreements, etc.  If you have additional feedback, please send email towncouncil@colonialbeachva.gov  The vote will be June 18th. 

Floor to Area Ratio Recommendation from Planning Commission, Darla Odom, Interim Director of Community Development & Zoning - this topic has been discussed numerous times and is to increase the building size that can go on a lot which was voted down a couple years ago. Once again, the topic went to the planning commission and this time they voted again not to increase the FAR but did vote to allow attached garages not to count against the FAR. What this means exactly is you can build a 526 square-foot larger home with an attached garage so 2500 ft.² vs 2000 on a 5000 square-foot lot.  There doesn’t seem to be a lot of concern about this, but if you have an opinion, one way or the other, please speak up. Vote to hold a public hearing during our June 18th regular meeting 7–0.

Discussion on Utility Billing Revisions, Adam Scheafer, Assistant Director of Finance - Town staff was asked to do a presentation on more frequent utility billing to help citizens cope with the large utility bills by breaking it up monthly vs quarterly.  Staff stated that increasing to monthly billing would significantly increase towns cost by +$31K a year.  He stated most responses they’ve received so far are in favor of keeping quarterly billing which people can get on payment plans and pay monthly at no cost. One of the concerns raised was the fee that people pay $11 a quarter to pay electronically. One suggestion was to encourage citizens to use their banks online bill pay, which is free. There was no official vote, but it seemed that council had a consensus and agreed with the staff to keep the billing quarterly.

FY2026 Capital Improvement Prioritization Workshop - One of the things I advocated for during the budget process this year was to have council set priorities vs town staff bringing us projects piece meal. The existing process allows staff or the Mayor to set priorities for council by adding items like parks to the agenda randomly.  This workshop was to start the ball moving forward on prioritizing CIP projects.  While, I think that the meeting was productive, I’m not a fan of what seems like games with poster boards and stickers.  I feel like if we are going to do such workshops council should have input on the format, not just the mayor.  Basically, we broke up into groups with staff and council members and addressed the top 15 or so projects.  Projects were given rankings from #1 highest priority to #3 low priority and then we were given stickers to go around and place on our priorities. My concern with the process is transparency because we don’t know who supports what.  Highest priority items were things like water meter communication system, water sewer, treatment plant upgrades, inflow /infiltration issues including sewer pumps and sidewalks.  Some of the items that ranked lower were trash truck replacement, police and public works vehicles, Parks and North Boardwalk repairs.  Directions to staff was to come back to council with details like funds availability, project status, etc. If you would like to provide additional feedback to council members, please email towncouncil@colonialbeachva.gov  

EVENTS This coming week

Sunday June 8th – Baby contest/ Elementary School Gym

Friday June 13th - 7:30pm Fireman’s Parade, Beauty Pageant after parade (Town Hill Stage).

Saturday June 14th – Grand Feature Parade 12:00pm and other activities on Boardwalk/Town Hill including Fireworks

Sunday June 15th – Fathers Day Car Show 8a-5p

Councilman David Williams

Please email or call with questions or comments:

dwilliams@colonialbeachva.gov

540-604-4335