WILLIAMSBURG — Williamsburg City Council appointed a new face to the Williamsburg-James City School Board on Thursday.

Andrea Donnor will join Julie Hummel as one of the city’s two representatives on the joint school board.

“We looked at all the candidates extensively, and we’re very thankful that we had four candidates to choose from,” Vice Mayor Pat Dent said. “All very qualified, but…after looking at who we thought would represent Williamsburg the best at this particular time, Ms. Donnor was the person that we agreed upon.” During the meeting Mayor Doug Pons explained the council’s process of selection, which included meeting and interviewing all of the applicants, both as a council and individually, as well as hearing from residents.

Speaking at a public hearing in November, Donnor said the voices of parents with children in the school division on the school board are “of utmost importance.”

“I know the value of public education and want to ensure that the school division delivers on that promise for all children,” she said.

Donnor, whose four-year term begins in January, is a graduate of Wellesley College and Harvard Business School and is the mother of a student in the school division. She’s a director at Capital One Financial and was elected a trustee to the Williamsburg Health Foundation earlier this year.

Pons also thanked Kyra Cook, who served eight years on the school board and did not put her name forward for reappointment.

“She has served distinctively and admirably in this position,” he said. “[With the] traits that she brought to the entire division, not just the city — leadership, knowledge, compassion, dedication — she really epitomizes what I think a great school board representative is and a great citizen of Williamsburg.”

Williamsburg is one of a handful of jurisdictions in Virginia that appoints its school board members.

Although it shares a school board with James City County, the county’s five positions are elected while the city’s two positions are appointed.

In other business at Thursday’s meeting, the City Council approved an amendment to allow additional hotels and motels to be converted into affordable housing. In November council postponed the hearing.

“While it’s taken us a while to get to this point, I think we’ve addressed a lot of the questions of council,” Dent said.

“I think this is one instance where deliberation and consideration of a lot of different factors and collaboration has really come through with a good ordinance that suits us all,” council member Barbara Ramsey said.

The amendment includes increasing the number of units citywide by 250 for a total of 400, allowing 75% of the units to be studio apartments and keeping the number of adaptive-use facilities at five.

Council also approved an ordinance and a special-use permit to allow a family entertainment center at the site of the former Yankee Candle store.

Uptown Alley requested the permit to operate the entertainment center, which provides indoor recreation such as arcades, billiard parlors, bowling alleys, pool halls and more. During the open forum representatives from several local performing arts companies, including Opera in Williamsburg, the Virginia Regional Ballet, Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra and Williamsburg Players, spoke to the council about the need for an indoor performance facility in the city. The lack of available venue space has been an ongoing problem for performing arts groups in Williamsburg.

In 2021 the Williamsburg Area Arts Commission conducted a survey that found a “critical lack of space” for performing arts groups, something that has been worsened by pandemic-related closure or limited availability of many existing spaces.

The council also thanked Ted Maslin, who is concluding his term at the end of the month, with a resolution commending his service.

“Thank you for the past 4 1/2 years, and I’m sure we’ll still be seeing you around town and that you’ll continue to be involved with the city,” Ramsey said.

Sian Wilkerson, sian.wilkerson@pilotonline.com, 757-342-6616