What to Do About Water and Development in the Williamsburg Area

New Survey Reveals Large Majorities in James City, York and Williamsburg Fear Overdevelopment, Favor Restrictions on Growth Until Water Issues Resolved

Contacts: Professor J. Timmons Roberts, Dept. of Sociology, College of William and Mary; tel 757-221-2463; jtrobe@wm.edu Research Assistants: Maureen Feldbaum mofeld@wm.edu, 229-0354; Melanie Marzolf mnmarz@wm.edu, 221-4801

This report and our forthcoming Development and Watersheds in the Williamsburg Area: A Guide for Citizens and Students can be found at: http://faculty.wm.edu/jtrobe

SUMMARY: A scientific phone survey of adults in Williamsburg, York and James City Counties was conducted by students at The College of William and Mary July 10-14, 2002. The survey measured respondent's beliefs and concern over water and development, and on solutions to drinking water shortages, runoff and watershed protection, and land-use.

MAJOR FINDINGS:

1. The major finding is that most local residents are worried about development and water in the Williamsburg area. Four in five residents believed that development of land in Greater Williamsburg is happening too quickly (79%).

- There were no statistical differences between counties on these questions. York county respondents were slightly more likely to express concern about excessive development. Residents in all jurisdictions showed strong majorities favoring greater controls on growth (77% JCC; 79% Williamsburg; 80% York: This confirms a November, 2001 survey of over 1200 residents of James City County which showed 78% believing development is occurring to quickly).

- Strong majorities of Republicans (76%), Democrats (78%) and Independents (79%) agreed that development is occurring too quickly.

- Lifetime and long-time residents were somewhat more likely to agree that development is occurring too quickly than newer arrivals (85% of those >20 years here, 84% of those here 11-20 years, 85% of those 6-10 years, 68% of 1-5 year residents, 80% of those living here less than one year; Chi-squared=11.4; p<.05).

- 72.3 percent believe it is important to slow development even if it means increasing taxes. That’s nearly three times the number who disagreed (27.7%). Interestingly, lower income households were more likely to support slowing development even if it means more taxes. 76% of households under $60,000 felt this way, but less than seventy percent of those over $60,000 did.

- Only 18.4% believe that more housing and shopping centers will make the Williamsburg area a better place to live. 82% Disagree. Further details are below.

Some responses from citizens: “This place will end up looking like Newport News and Hampton one day,” said one James City resident. “Look north, watch out for the megalopolis,” said one York county teacher. “Look towards the future long-term, not like the developers, who look short-term.” “Reuse land that’s already been cleared,” said a York county resident. One developer said to his colleagues, “Be more ethical.” Another respondent said “You should stop it [growth] until the regional plan. The state should buy property now and plan for the future.” A York County carpenter expressed frustration at the changes for different reasons: “Land needs to be preserved so hunting can continue. Wildlife is important for maintaining the character of our communities and too much of it has been depleted by developers.” “Keep the forests, Save the trees,” said a Williamsburg technician.

2. When water was added to the question, residents had strong opinions. Four in five believed that “new developments should be stopped until issues of drinking water supplies are resolved.” (80% agreed, while only 20% disagreed.)

- 76% of Republicans, 79% of Democrats, and 86% of Independents agreed.

- There was some variation among income levels, only 53 % of respondents in households with the highest incomes (over $150,000) agreed, while 75% or more of the respondents at every other income level agreed with the need to secure water before approving more developments.

- There were significant gender differences on the issue of water and growth. 71% of men and 86% of women believed that “new development should be stopped until issues of drinking water supplies are resolved.” (chi-squared 12.1; p<.001). [Women were also more likely to support tight watering guidelines.] In particular, men with more years of formal schooling were less likely than those with fewer years of education to believe that development should be stopped until water issues were resolved. 90% of men with high school or less felt development should be stopped, but only 65% of men with college or graduate training felt this way. Women’s levels of agreement stayed steady regardless of their education: 86% for high school or less, 86% of college women, and 84% of those with graduate school.

Some responses: A James City manufacturer said “We shouldn't do any more development until the water situtation is restored.” Many James City retirees agreed, including some who had lived here for decades: “The best thing they can do is to hold off on developments until they can decide what to do about the water” said one. “Just stop developing for awhile,” said another. A York County security officer reflected “Decisions made today will impact us in 25 years.” “What happened in Florida could happen here, before we know it we could be in a real bind,” said a James City sales consultant. “I think we’re flying by the seat of our pants,” said one James City retiree. On the other side, one James City resident said “There are plenty of places to get water if we worked harder at it. There’s a lot of water flowing through that’s not being used for drinking, which could provide a lot more water if more dams were built and if we purified the water.”

3. On watering restrictions, 91.6% agreed that “residents and businesses should follow tight guidelines for watering plants, washing cars…” Only 8.4% disagreed. The ratio was also nearly 9 to 1 of those saying that “developers and homeowners should be required to do landscaping that requires little or no watering.” (89.5% vs. 10.5%). “Really encourage residents to use water conservation practices. Individual decisions are important,” said a speech pathologist in York County.

4. When asked about the 100-foot buffers to protect streams under the Chesapeake Bay Protection Act, strong majorities of residents in each county believed that protecting the watershed should come before the rights of individual landowners: 84% in James City County, 90% in Williamsburg, and 79% of York county respondents chose protection over individual rights. The overall trend is 7 to 1. A York County Cosmetician said that protecting the watershed was simply “common sense.” A York homemaker said “I do all I can. I keep my yard natural. I really care about the water and the land.” Those who chose individual rights were adamant about their family’s long-time use of the land or waterfronts. One said “Half and half: people shouldn't be told by government what to do…there are too many restrictions. We can't do what we want on our land and we pay taxes.” “I’m pro-property rights but I love the environment. Once you start regulating individual rights, you lose your rights.” Another stated, "It's my property and I do what I want." On the other side, those favoring restrictions to protect watershed said that “The boundary should stay there-- [people] knew what they were buying.” Another stated, “if you regulate with no exemptions then watershed protection should come first. You can educate the old guys.”

5. More than half of the residents in each county believed that real estate developers have more influence in determining land-use in their county than citizens or even local government officials. When told about a recent Virginia Pilot study which found that the largest contributors to local political campaigns in the Tidewater were from real estate developers, eighty-two percent of the respondents were concerned that these contributions allow them to have an unfair influence on land-use decisions. A resident of James City County expressed concern that “citizens have little voice,” when it comes to issues of land-use in the county. One Williamsburg resident said, “Listen to people, stop listening to developers. I know developers have more money than us but we care more.” On the other hand, a resident of James City County felt that “People don’t take any responsibility and point too many fingers…people blame the government too much.” A resident of York County also remarked that “citizens need to get more involved.”

6. Ninety percent of residents in Williamsburg and 84% of residents in James City County and York County support the idea of a regional planning committee that would focus on land use issues in Williamsburg, James City County and York combined.

7. When asked what they would like to say to decision makers about the issues of development and/or the environment in their city, respondents expressed significant frustration: “Slow down, it’s aggravating that we have to cut down on our water usage when they are developing like crazy,” said one retired resident in York County. “We need to do something soon or it will only get worse.” “Just stop I’ve lived here all my life!” “Slow down” said many.

FURTHER RESULTS:

On Growth Items:

· 83% believe that there should be restrictions on the amount of land sold for residential and commercial development. This is five times the number who did not support these restrictions (16.7%).

· Lower income households and those with fewer years of formal schooling were more likely to believe that development is happening too quickly. Between 83 and 85% of households below $60,000 agree that development is happening too quickly while less than 74% of households with incomes above $60,000 feel this way. Only 53% of households with an income over $150,000 agree that development is happening too quickly. (chi-squared = 8.4; p<.1)

· Those with a high school education or less were more likely to agree that development in the Greater Williamsburg area is happening too quickly. 90% of those with an education of high school or less agreed that development is happening too quickly while only 77% of those with some college education and 73% of those with education beyond college felt this way.

· There was no statistical difference between household incomes and those agreeing that development should be slowed even if it means increasing taxes. There was also no statistical difference between household income and those agreeing that there should be restrictions on residential and commercial growth. For each question more than half of the respondents at each income level favored less development.

ABOUT THE STUDY: These findings are based on a random telephone survey with 379 households, completed July 10-14, 2002, by an interdisciplinary team of students conducting summer research in the College of William and Mary’s Environmental Science and Policy Research Group on Development and Watersheds in the Williamsburg Area. A sampling firm, Genesys, randomly selected telephone numbers from Williamsburg, James City and York counties. Funding came from a matching grant from the Virginia Environmental Endowment.

ABOUT THE RESPONDENTS: The sample consisted of 379 adults 18 years and older. The margin of error was 5 percentage points. Statistical claims are based on Chi-squared tests at the 95 percent confidence level. Of the sample, forty-two percent were males and 58% females. Eighty-six percent of respondents reported their race as White, 8.0% as African-American, and 7% "Other." 20% completed high school or fewer years of schooling, 57.5% had some college, and 22 percent had gone beyond college). For those responding to the household income question, 10% reported earning less than $25,000 per year, 43% between $25 and 60,000, 34% between $60 and 100,000, 16% between $100,000 and 150,000, and 7% over $150,000. In terms of which political party they tended to support, 39% said Republican, 24% Democratic, 15% Independent, 4.5% other and 17% said they don't know or that it depends upon the candidate. 83% of our respondents were home owners, 16% were renters.

FULL QUESTION WORDINGS:

For each statement please indicate your level of agreement:

4b. Approval of new developments should be stopped until issues of drinking water supplies are resolved