Lynchburg City Council delays action on big boxes, Grand Oaks

City Council again delayed action on two controversial topics when it met Tuesday.

Read city documents on the big box ordinance here

In other action, City Council:
- Accepted $1 million in state incentives for the now-postponed Areva expansion. The money, which will be funneled to the nuclear power company through the Economic Development Authority, comes from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund.
A contract signed in October requires Areva to invest millions in its local facilities and create hundreds of new jobs in exchange for the cash. If it does not meet the specified goals by late 2011, it will be forced to repay all or part of the grant.
Areva announced last week it was delaying most of its expansion plans due to the economic downturn. Executives said they would continue to monitor conditions and hoped to restart work soon.

- Appropriated a $487,000 state grant earmarked to improve the intersection of Memorial Avenue, Park Avenue and Lakeside Drive. The three-way crossing is slated for pedestrian improvements and traffic light changes. The grant is expected to cover the entire cost of the project.
The targeted intersection was once part of the larger-scale Midtown Connector project, but was ultimately cut out in the interest of making the designated midtown corridor shorter and more direct, according to city officials.

- Amended the city code to formally designate property maintenance violations as local infractions. The alteration will allow the city to collect property maintenance fines in the future. In the past, violations were considered state infringements and all fines went into state coffers. Fines can rise as high as $5,000 for repeat offenders.

- Acknowledged the city’s recent first place award from the 2008 Digital Cities Survey. The national survey — sponsored by the eRepublic’s Center for Digital Government and Digital Communities magazine — evaluates how well participating cities use technology to communicate with residents and deliver services.
Lynchburg finished first in its population category, 30,000-74,999. Mayor Joan Foster presented the award to IT Director Mike Goetz.

The big-box ordinance and Grand Oaks at Boonsboro development were both postponed for further revision and debate.

Officials appeared to agree the ordinance — which seeks to place new regulations on large-scale retail construction — was not acceptable as presented.

They disagreed on how deep the flaws ran, though, with a minority believing the current language should be scrapped altogether.

A majority felt it could be improved with revisions and voted to bring it back during a work session in January.

No one advocated adopting the ordinance as is.

The big-box ordinance is the result of months of work on the part of the planning commission and staff, which saw one prior incarnation of the suggested ordinance shot down on the grounds it was overly simplistic.

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

Large-scale commercial developers would instead have to submit their projects to public hearings and a vote by council. The latest version also provides for a quicker, administrative form of review in cases where builders adhere to higher development standards.

A motion to flat-out reject the ordinance failed on a 3-4 vote, with councilmen Jeff Helgeson of Ward III, Turner Perrow of Ward IV and Scott Garrett, at large, on the losing side.

Concerns expressed included a chilling effect on economic development, overly restrictive or subjective standards, and generally poor craftsmanship.

Councilman Perrow, a professional engineer, called the recommended system “sloppy” and said the language failed to achieve its goal of improving development in the city.

“This whole document is clumsy and awkward,” he said. “… I think it’s a bad ordinance.”

The remaining council members argued the city had to gain better control of its development, and said wholesale rejection of the ordinance would — in the words of one member — be throwing the baby out with the bath water.

“I think big development has big impacts,” said Ward I Councilman Mike Gillette, who first proposed the ordinance. “Traffic, environment, quality of life, the list goes on and on. … If we’re going to see the kind of development we want, we need to have high standards.”

Gillette added there was room to compromise and listed several possible areas of change, including the 50,000-square-foot threshold, the subject of considerable disagreement during past deliberations.

Joining Gillette in supporting the ordinance with further revisions were Mayor Joan Foster, Vice Mayor Bert Dodson and Ward II Councilman Ceasor Johnson. Council is expected to discuss the big-box ordinance again Jan. 27.

Also Tuesday, the Grand Oaks at Boonsboro development was again sent back to the drawing board in hopes of striking a compromise between the developer’s needs and the community’s concerns.

Grand Oaks, a residential project situated on nine acres of Mimosa Drive, faces heavy opposition from neighbors who cite concerns about density, added traffic and adverse environmental impact.

The project’s layout has been revised twice by property owner Systematic Concepts in hopes of passing council. The latest version calls for 26 homes, down from an original 32.

Council members debated the development’s merits for nearly an hour and a half, and ultimately signaled they would vote it through if the housing count was further lowered to 20.

Developer Mickey Herzing, who expressed confusion and concern at different points of the lengthy and complex deliberations, said he was uncertain if the project would be viable at that density, but agreed to go back and revisit the plans at council’s behest.

The matter was postponed indefinitely to allow Herzing time to re-evaluate his plans.

Neighborhood spokeswoman Shannon Brennan, who said earlier this month she would accept 20 homes, said she felt encouraged after the meeting.

Officials appear to have heard and given weight to the community’s concerns, she said.

“I’m very appreciative of what council is trying to do,” said Brennan, who along with her neighbors originally fought to get the project reduced to 14 homes, which prior engineering indicated was the maximum density possible under the property’s current zoning.

Council was not united on the Grand Oaks issue. Vice Mayor Dodson, Councilman Johnson and Councilman Perrow all spoke in favor of passing the plan as is, noting the nature of the project, which is targeted to retirees and empty nesters, and the past concessions made by Herzing.

Councilman Helgeson was not present for the Grand Oaks deliberation.

Said Dodson, “I’m getting tired of going out to Bedford and Campbell counties and seeing this type of development out in some cow pasture. We’re driving our older residents who can afford this type of home away.”

“This will send a cold chill through the development community. Just ignore Lynchburg.”