Why is James City County concerned with the Chesapeake Bay?
James City County straddles two major Chesapeake Bay watersheds, the James River watershed and the York River watershed. Because every piece of land in the County drains to one of these two watersheds, any land development activity may impact the health of the James and York Rivers and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, adopted by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1988, recognizes that “healthy state and local economies are integrally related to each to each other and the environmental health of the Chesapeake Bay.” Locally, the purpose of the County’s Chesapeake Bay Preservation ordinance is to “control and regulate runoff at the source to protect against and minimize pollution and deposition of sediment in wetlands, streams and lakes in James City County which are tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay.
