Lynchburg City Council to talk Boonsboro proposal, LU voting

Lynchburg City Council is expected to revisit some controversial topics when it meets next on Tuesday. Officials will also broach a new issue concerning Liberty University voters and their polling precinct.

Council could cast the final vote on the contentious Grand Oaks at Boonsboro subdivision, which has drawn heavy opposition from its Mimosa Drive neighbors.

The Grand Oaks property spans nine acres near Bedford Hills Elementary School. The design calls for 26 homes — a reduction from the original made by developers in response to community concerns about density.

Neighbors continued to strongly oppose the plan during a second public hearing earlier this month. Concerns continued to center around density, added traffic and the environmental impact on a nearby stream.

A neighborhood spokeswoman suggested a compromise layout of 20 homes would be acceptable. Developers noted they’ve already cut back on the number of houses and made other concessions, including eliminating construction from the steepest part of the property.

Also on Tuesday, council will continue debate on the big box ordinance, which has been criticized by the local development community as overly restrictive.

The ordinance, as written, would eliminate all retail development exceeding 50,000 square feet as an automatically acceptable or “by-right” land use everywhere in the city.

Large-scale commercial developers would instead have to submit their projects to public hearings and an ultimate vote of council. A quicker, administrative form of review would be available for those willing to adhere to higher development standards.

The ordinance has been under debate in Lynchburg for nearly two full years. A vote is possible Tuesday.

Both the big-box ordinance and Grand Oaks development will be taken up during a 1 p.m work session at City Hall.

A regular business session is to follow at 5 p.m. Items on that agenda include the possibility of establishing a new polling place to accommodate the recent surge of LU student voters.

LU contributed to more than doubling the voter rolls at the Heritage Elementary School precinct following an unprecedented campus registration drive this year.

Ward III Councilman Jeff Helgeson has suggested opening a new precinct near the school to avoid future congestion at the polls.

If council elects to move forward on that plan, the city will face a tight deadline.

The state has decreed no precinct changes will be allowed after Feb. 1 due to the federal census pending in 2010. The freeze will be lifted in 2011 following the census’s completion.

It’s unlikely the city could get a new precinct formally ratified before the new deadline, given that all voting procedures in Virginia must be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice, which is known to take months to review a petition.

In a memo to council, the city attorney advises that officials could ask the state to adopt a “grandfather provision” validating all changes initiated before Feb. 1.

The city could then begin the process of creating a new precinct and await federal approval without fear of missing the deadline.

The city attorney also advised that another option would be to keep the current precinct as is and supply it with extra voting machines and poll workers in the future.

Helgeson said he continues to prefer creating a new precinct, acknowledging the process might be challenging but believing the obstacles can be overcome.

“There are hurdles, absolutely,” he said. “But I think it’s the right thing to do, considering the huge increase we’ve seen in that precinct.”

Helgeson added he’s heard numerous complaints from constituents about the long lines encountered at Heritage Elementary on Election Day earlier this month.

The elementary school precinct now has 4,762 registered voters, according to a city memo, making it the second biggest precinct in the city behind the Moose Lodge in Ward I, which has 4,883 voters.