Letter: Where’s the Sense of Community?

The following letter was written and submitted by Juile Jones to the Town of Cape Charles. She is a resident of the Cape Charles Historic District.

My husband, Sam, and I live in the Historic District of Cape Charles.

Sam and I attended the joint work session last week and stayed for the Planning Commission’s meeting on STR regulations afterward, as well as the Planning Commission’s continuation meeting on zoning for STRs on Wednesday evening.

I do not understand something, from the 2024 Community Strategic Plan, Our Community Values:  Sense of Community.

I have yet to hear anything that would restore the lost sense of community that many of us are experiencing, with the proliferation of STRs approaching 40-50%, and more, in some blocks of the Historic District.

At one point, I believe I heard someone on the Town Council offer the idea of setting a limit on the density of STRs, similar to Onancock, in which STRs have to be a certain number of feet apart, thereby reducing the potential for having more strangers than neighbors in any given block.

How are you demonstrating an appreciation for the people who live here, year-round, 

who shop here, year-round, 

who provide countless volunteer hours, year-round, 

who support our local churches, year-round, 

who support our local schools, year round; 

The people paying exorbitant taxes for the privilege of owning a home here, whose assessed “value” has increased as much as 300% over the last ten years.

The people who do not own an STR, but a home.

The people paying dearly so that tourists can come and pretend for a week that they “live” here, in “Mayberry.”

We know a lot of senior citizens, mostly women, who live here alone, and for right now feel “safe,” because they know their neighbors.

Without a limit on STRs, how long will that feeling of safety last?

We attended college in Williamsburg, and lived there full time, since 1991, until retiring here.

You could say that Williamsburg not only has the challenges of tourism but also the college students who live there.

Citizens of Williamsburg, however, tolerate the craziness of tourists and college students because the income generated by them means taxes are low, and the public schools are excellent.

In Cape Charles, the influx of tourists costs US money in the form of higher taxes, and our public schools are desperate for additional funding, and teachers, who, by the way, need a decent place to live.

In fact, how many of YOU have, or had your children in the public schools in Northampton County?  

And if not, why?

Some of you are OK with the idea of limiting STR ownership to ONLY 5 per owner.

Some of you prefer to have no limits on how many STRs one person can own.

How does that contribute to a sense of community?

What will you do, to fill the positions on the various town councils, boards, commissions, etc, once the number of full-time residents, and potential volunteers, dries up?

Will you try to find people to hire to do the work of those volunteers?

And where will those people, potential employees of the town, come from?

And where will THEY live?

Who is going to pay for a new Town employee, whose job will be to solely monitor STRs in Cape Charles?

Gentrification on steroids has made what was once affordable, decent housing in this town, into houses that are competing for STR business, with expensive, unnecessary for day-to-day life, extras.

I have yet to hear ANYTHING, from either Town Council or the Planning Commission, that sounds remotely like something that is for the benefit of those of us who actually live in the Historic District of Cape Charles.

Maybe if you live in Bay Creek, and the STR regulations don’t impact you, because you are lucky enough to not have more STRs than neighbors where you live, then you think that as long as the Historic District continues to “look” quaint and charming, it really doesn’t matter who owns and/or lives in the houses, but for those of us who spend a lot of time and money maintaining these old houses, so that they look “quaint and charming,” we do not hear anything in any of the proposals that would improve our “sense of community.”

Maybe if you don’t live in the Historic District, and/or are not impacted by the proliferation of STRs in your block, then you really should not be making policies that will impact those of us who do live in the Historic District and are impacted by the number of STRs.

Maybe if you or a spouse works for a local realtor, or if you own or manage one or more STRs, then perhaps you need to recuse yourself from voting on these “regulations.”

If this applies to you, isn’t this kind of a case of NIMBY…fine for someone else, but Not In My Back Yard?

We want homes, not hotels, in our residential district of the Historic District.

It’s up to you, to look out for us and our quality of life.

What will you do?

Thank you for your service to the citizens of Cape Charles.