Lynchburg big-box ordinance tabled

Legal objections to a suggested big-box ordinance prompted planning commissioners to table the issue once again Wednesday.

“I’d like to think about what you’ve said some more and have some more conversation,” Commissioner Andy Sale said.

“I’m not ready to sit here and bang this out tonight.”

Officials expressed a need for more time following a public hearing that sparked nearly two hours of comments and questions.

The big-box ordinance — the sole subject of the afternoon’s meeting — allows for stricter oversight of large-scale retail

development.

The hearing Wednesday was the final step required before a vote of the commission could be taken. One person spoke in favor of the new law, while five argued against it.

All but one of those opposed worked in the development industry and were part of an earlier stakeholders panel formed by the commission to offer feedback.

Several cases were made that new regulations would be overly cumbersome for developers and curtail future growth in the city.

Commissioners appeared most concerned, though, with challenges to the proposal’s legal validity.

Attorney Herschel Keller noted the ordinance contained inexact standards, singling out one that called for all entrances to be designed in a way that maximizes safety.

“What does ‘maximize’ mean?” he asked. “That’s not an objective standard.”

Subjective language, he argued, renders it impossible for developers to understand what is expected of them and gives city staff undue power to determine what will be accepted as a legal design.

“You’re not supposed to have to rely on the whims of the king to decide if you meet the law or not,” Keller said. “… I don’t think your intent is to put that much responsibility in the hands of one person who’s not an elected official.”

Commissioner Dick Worthington also questioned whether a mandate requiring cross-access between big boxes and their commercial neighbors would hold up.

That particular standard has been a subject of lengthy and sometimes contentious debate at earlier commission meetings.

Worthington was among a majority that supported keeping it in, but on Wednesday said he recently learned Schewels Furniture had successfully challenged a similar law in Albemarle County just last year.

The commissioner was unable to provide a copy of the court ruling, but said Schewels was willing to brief officials on the case sometime in the future.

“I’m a big supporter of connectivity. I think it makes a hell of a lot of sense,” he said. “But it seems kind of pointless if there’s already this case out there.”

In deciding to table the issue, other commissioners expressly mentioned these points as issues they wanted to research further.

The big-box regulations would have to be voted on by City Council before passing into law. The planning commission has been working to get the ordinance approved since January 2007.