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Colonial Beach council approves agenda, hears tourism boost, osprey nesting concerns and FEMA grant update for rescue squad
Summary
At its July 15 meeting the Colonial Beach Town Council approved the agenda and consent items, heard that a connectivity study won the APA 2026 Holzheimer award and that a tourism campaign is under way, was told about a decline in osprey chick counts, and learned the town has applied for a FEMA grant to build a new rescue squad facility at 700 Colonial Avenue.
The Colonial Beach Town Council approved the meeting agenda and a consent agenda that included an amendment appropriating an annual grant for fire programs, then heard a series of community and staff updates on July 15.
A council member serving as the economic-vitality and tourism liaison said a sponsored social-media influencer for the Potomac River Festival and a TV/digital marketing campaign in the Washington, D.C., metro area, Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland — targeted in part to military audiences — produced significant exposure. The liaison also said the town’s connectivity study will be presented as a best-practice example at the American Planning Association Virginia chapter meeting in Danville and that the study won the APA’s 2026 Holzheimer Award for economic development.
A representative introduced as Ann, speaking for the Virginia Osprey Foundation, reported local nesting figures: she said the foundation is tracking 37 osprey nests in Colonial Beach, and later in the same remarks referenced 32 nests, adding that 11 of those nests had chicks and that the foundation currently recorded about 20 chicks in fledgling stages. The transcript contains inconsistent nest counts within the same update; the foundation’s representative asked that monitoring continue through the season.
Council members praised town staff and volunteers for July 4 event coordination, including a golf-cart parade with roughly 50 golf carts, and thanked donors for a 10-foot backstop donated to the sandlot by David Swanee, installation help from RC Norris (RC Tree Service) and a shed donation from Emboden to store field maintenance equipment. The council also promoted the 3rd annual back-to-school event scheduled for next week.
A council member said the town previously approved a resolution in support of a FEMA grant application — coordinated with Westmoreland County and the Northern Neck Planning District Commission — to build a new rescue squad facility at 700 Colonial Avenue and to redevelop the current rescue-squad location because of floodplain concerns. The application has been submitted and staff are working with the state to provide additional information requested by FEMA.
The council did not record roll-call vote tallies in the transcript for the agenda or consent approvals; both were adopted by voice vote during the meeting. The meeting then moved to the town-manager updates, including the police Q2 briefing and the start of the 4th-quarter financial report.
