Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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Great. I call to order the Lynchburg Planning Commission meeting for Wednesday, March 11th, 2026. The first order of business is the approval of our uh I'm sorry, this is not the 11th. Today is the 25th. and to over review the minutes for the March 11th meeting. Has anybody had a chance to look at them? Motion to motion to approve. Second. Second. All right. All in favor say I.

All opposed. Great. Okay. We're now we're going to be hearing petitions open to public comment. Petitioners or their representatives will be given 10 minutes to present the petition. Subsequent individual citizens wishing to speak will be allowed a maximum of 3 minutes each. Representatives of OP of an opposition group will be allowed a maximum of 10 minutes. At the end of the public hearing, there will be an allowance of three minutes for rebuttals. And our first order of business um in this public hearing is the petition of Belvac Production Machinery to reszone approximately 2900s of an acre located at 205 Gremill Road from I2 Light Industrial to B3 Community Business District to allow the standalone use of an office facility. Thank you uh Mr. Chair, members of planning commission. Our city's future land use map recommends employment one uses for these proper for the property. These areas are intended for large-scale office uh smaller scale office research and development and light manufacturing uses, restaurant, small-cale retail, hotel and business service uses uh that support those larger uses can be constructed in employment one areas. The existing I2 light industrial district was established in 1978 and in this district's uh office use must be related to the industrial use taking place on the site. So that is the purpose of the reszoning is to allow an office that is not associated with the adjacent industrial. The property at 205 Graves Road is approximately 1 and 7600s acres total. Uh the portion proposed for resoning consists of approximately 2900ths of an acre and is shown here on this slide in red. The property contains a structure which was originally constructed as a residential home in 1945 but was later converted to office uses associated with the adjacent Belvac machinery facility. Uh the structure is approximately 1,800 square ft in size. The remainder of the

property contains another structure approximately 4200 square ft and is uh currently used for industrial purposes by Belvac. This portion of the site which is shown in purple would remain zoned I2 light industrial. Uh the property is bound by industrial uses to the north and east and the Lynchburg Expressway to the south and west. Uh if the petition is approved, the existing building is proposed for use as a standalone office facility unrelated to the adjacent industrial. The building could also be used for another permitted use in the proposed B3 community business district. There are no proposed exterior improvements or modifications at this time and the structure is served by its own entrance and parking area. Uh the property is recommended for employment one on our future land use map. And while these generally we tend to think of these as larger scale offices, smaller scale offices uh and other uses can support those larger facilities. The proposed use of the structure as a standalone office is permitted in the proposed B3 district and would agree with the existing future land use map. The use should have limited impact on the area. The city's technical review committee reviewed this petition on March 3rd and the planning division recommends approval. Thank you.

Thank you. Who's here to speak on the the behalf of this petition? If you would please sign in and state your name and tell us a little bit more about it.

Yes. Good afternoon. I'm Chris Gentry. I'm with Gentry Commercial Real Estate and I'm here on behalf of Belvac. So, this um as she stated was originally a residence uh when it was purchased uh by the original owner of of what is now Bellevac and the industrial building was built on the back of the property. They can they used this for office space. It was renovated over time and it was always used as just corporate office for uh Belgium Tool and Die at the time which became Belvac today. They no longer need it for their own purposes. So they would like the ability to lease it to a third party. So that's why we're here for um for the proposed reasoning.

Thank you. Is there anybody here to speak in favor of the petition? Mr. Jeff, you might want to just stay for a minute. Any anybody here to speak in opposition? No emails, no voicemails. So, we'll close the public hearing and uh any questions that we have or any deliberation. I personally don't see any I think I think it's good good use of the of the land. So, I'd be in support of it myself.

I'm in support of I just had a clarification question. So, as long as the owner of the whole property was using as an office that was allowed, but if they're leasing it out to a third party, then they need this this petition. Yeah. So the important uh piece is that the owner is an industrial user and then the um industrial district as it's currently zoned. The only offices that are allowed are to be um associated with those industrial users. So yes, they want to lease it to someone who is not Belvac, some other type of office. Gotcha. So it's more general. That's amazing. Yeah.

You can move beyond the industrial customer type. Yep. Okay. Thank you. And there's no plans to to further develop it or add additional No, they to the structure. They intend to use it as is. Um granted, uh you know, another it's not to say it couldn't be redeveloped. However, it is pretty small, uh you know, the portion that's being reszoned. So, I can't imagine a lot of other uses that would even work in a situation like this. It fits right in with the character of that road. I mean, it's several of these types of things going down there. So,

to motion to second. Any other comments? All right, let's go ahead and vote for the petition. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Great. Passes unanimously. Good luck at city council. Thank you. All right. Right. The next item we will hear is the petition of Jubilee Family Development Center to reszone approximately 2 and 200s of an acre located at 1516 Florida Avenue from B5C General Business District with conditions to R4 I mean and R4 highdensity residential to B5C general business district with condition and R4 highdensity residential to amend existing profers and allow for the expansion of the center. So hear about that. Rachel.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the planning commission. Our future land use map recommends neighborhood commercial uses for this area. These are meant to be uh primarily office, retail, personal service, and restaurant uses that are designed to be incompatible with the adjacent neighborhoods. Um the subject property was annexed into the city in 1958 and the existing R4 highdensity residential district was established in 1978. Uh the property is splitz zoned. Uh the existing B5C uh general business district conditional is the front portion along Florida Avenue. Uh that was established in 1991 when city council approved a resoning petition uh from B3C community business district to this B5C general business district. That petition included a profered concept plan. the proposed addition that the Jubilee Center is currently proposing uh deviates from that plan. So uh that is the reason that the profers are being amended with this petition. If approved uh the petitioner proposes to construct a one-story addition approximately 2500 square feet in size to an existing structure. The facility would serve as additional classroom space for the Jubilee Family Development Center. Uh again it is uh splitzoned property with the front being the B5C portion. Uh the rear portion is zoned R4 highdensity residential district. Uh most of that R4 piece is proposed to remain R4 uh because the topography at the rear of the property is very steep um making development unlikely. However, there is a flatter portion uh slightly sloped shown in the dashed area here uh which the petitioner proposes to reszone from the B5C to or sorry to to B5C from R4. Um saying a lot of letters here. Uh no improvements are proposed in this prop

portion at the time, but changing this area to the B5C zoning designation would allow more flexibility in the future development of the site. uh in in in in general typically B5 general business district would not be appropriate in an area flagged for neighborhood commercial due to the more intense intense nature of the uses permitted in this district. However, the submitted profer prohibits many of the B5 uses that would be in conflict with nearby residential homes. The size of the property also constrains the scale of potential development that could take place on the site and together these two factors ensure that the impact on the surrounding neighborhood should be limited while allowing uh you know for future growth of the Jubilee Center. The city's technical review committee reviewed this petition on January 6th. There were no major comments of concern. The board of zoning appeals also held a public hearing for a variance request related to this petition yesterday on March 24th. Um, the petitioner had requested a variance for a reduced buffer between this proposed addition and the adjoining residential property at 701 Greenfield and the board did approve that variance. The planning division recommends approval of the petition. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Who's here to speak on behalf of this petition?

Pull up the use table that's got the color. I have some of it. Okay. Just if somebody has a question on it. Yeah. If please state your name and sign in. Thanks.

Hi, thank you. I'm Russ Or here for Jubilee Center. Um hopefully you had a chance to look at the narrative. I think the narrative explains pretty well what we're up to. Um, the only unusual things I would say is that we are asking for a little bit of area to be reszoned from residential to business. Um, just because it's usable land and while we're here, we're we're going ahead and doing that. Um, the the as Rachel said, it was it was zoned back in ' 91 to B5C and the plan was profered. So, the only thing we're doing is changing the plan. So, um, if you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them. Thank you.

Is there anyone here to speak in support of this petition? Anybody here in opposition? Okay, Mr. Thorson, if you want to stay, we're going to close the public hearing. There might be some questions for you.

I think the only question that I had was um we've got down to the uh boundary there where it says proposed R4, proposed B5C. Uh because I thought originally from reading the packet that everything was going to be B5C, but um I think that was answered with that figure and the discussion. Um yeah, so go ahead. Just curious,

is it is this is the nature of what we're doing here to to add in to alter the nature of some pre-existing profers that would allow you to build on there? Um I guess I'm a little unclear on.

So this is um this is what was profered in 1991. Um I know it's it's oriented differently so it might be hard to compare and it's it's difficult to read as well but um yeah basically they profered that it would be compliant with this plan. Um which I think was largely driven around a car wash. Uh there's a former car wash structure still on the property. Um and so that is that is what we're changing when we're amending the profers. The profer that they have proposed um is rather than limiting it to a a specific concept plan basically limiting the uses on the site to uh uses under the category of education, public administration, healthcare and other institutions. So, um the ones you see listed on the right on this slide, um schools, um you know, religious institutions, things like that would be permitted as opposed to all of the B5 categories. Um so, I put a few examples of things that are not allowed, like general retail, gasoline service, uh auto repair, tow yards, warehousing, no self storage, things like that. um they've chose that category specifically because that is what Jubilee is aimed towards is more of an education uh driven you know facility. So that this gives them some flexibility uh with the uses as well as the layout on the site without opening it up to a lot of B5 uses that might be more detrimental on the neighborhood.

Yeah, I'm I'm actually for this. I didn't see that in and so that's actually helpful. Um the other thing is let's see we to amend exist allow for 25 foot one story building addition. So there's there's going to be a new building tacked on. Okay. For class class classroom space.

Yes. So it's the little they have highlighted it in yellow on this uh portion. It will be an addition on their existing uh STEM center which picture now. Okay. Good. Okay. Uh was there any effort or does there need to be for this? Uh I know it's a lot of residential around here. It's not really changing the nature of anything. Uh just maybe expanding the use and practicality of the the parcel, I guess, but uh was there any outreach to the the neighbors and all the neighborhood about this? Uh so of course with any public hearing, we have to have the posted notification signs. Uh, as far as I know, we didn't get any calls about the signs, which typically will

no emails, right? Uh, and then, uh, with with the public hearing, we also have to do a mailer to adjoining property owners and specifically because they went through the variance, uh, which was heard yesterday by the board of zoning appeals. Um they did try to reach out I think and even just knock on the door of the closest neighbor um to see if they had any uh feedback but it seems like that that house may be vacant. Okay. So that that was all done. Okay. That's all. One one thing on the table it said that the hospital and colarium I guess is how you say that is is not it it is it is on the permitted use side but

yeah I struck it out just so that you could kind of see how those uses fit into okay that larger category. Yeah, but yes it is it is struck. It might be hard to read. Okay, but those are not included. Yeah. Okay. All right. I just I didn't know where the list was used elsewhere. Yeah. I just had a question about the split zone. I don't think I've ever come across that in all of our meetings. Interesting. And so I'm just curious how that comes about. And I guess the advantage of maintaining that instead of reszoning the whole property is to protect that steeper area in the back as a R4. I mean the original

years ago. Um so it more than likely. Um, if I had to guess, they probably established the B5C on only a portion because there was concern that the neighbors would be more impacted. So, they said, "Well, we'll leave ourselves kind of a buffer. It could also have been a property acquisition where, you know, they they bought the R4 portion and then vacated that property line." I'm not sure exactly how it came to be. Um, but I believe that is part of the reason that they are leaving the R4 uh part of the R4 buffer is because it's really not practical to develop anyway because of the topography. So

yeah, again, it's just it's the split zoning. I mean, as a neighbor, I would actually prefer the this use as opposed to an R4 development. I would almost rather see the whole thing converted to this zoning, but it doesn't stop me from supporting it. But it's just it's every other petition we get, we would have seen the whole parcel to be reszoned.

And that was I was going to ask a question about that. Why why we don't just reszone the whole parcel. It looks like I had um access to the to the side road like a ride of way to do that. Otherwise, the the overlap zonings are are undefined, right? I mean, they're they're indefinite. If it's on one parcel, where do you measure the the zoning boundaries, right? Where does one end begin? Just a curious question more than anything,

it's it'll be based on meets and bounds is how the the zoning action action takes place. Um, I mean, it's I know we don't usually see petitions like this, but I mean, it it does exist elsewhere in the city. It's It's not common, but it does happen. Um, so if you build a little little too far over, you just kind of kick the line over. Well, like I said, I mean, I would have supported the petition for the entire property to be reszoned. So, I would support this one because it's less of a it's less of request, but it is a curious

scenario. And again, as a neighbor, I I would prefer I mean, I see this as a less impact, another classroom as opposed to and I realize you can't do you can't do much on that steep terrain, but still better than a R4 development, but yeah, I I support it, but they it's it's impressive what they do, and I think the more we can support that kind of outreach, the better. Yeah, absolutely. with the increase in need of a STEM education. This is a great opportunity here to build an additional uh building to support our youth and young adults.

I'll make a motion to approve. Okay. All right. Motion to approve and lots of seconds. So, any other comments? We'll go ahead and vote. All in favor of approving this petition as written, say I. I. All opposed. Say no. No one's opposed. So, it's going to go to council. Thank you very much. Thank you all for bringing that. All right. We don't have any other business items. Rachel, do we have anything we need to consider? Uh, no. You should have a meeting in two weeks. So, or is it two weeks? Yes. Yes.

What kind of things will we'll be hearing about in two weeks? The uh So, I mean, we have Yeah, it's a it's a public hearing of some sort. I we've got a lot going through in the queue right now. Oh, housing. Yes. It's already posted, right? It's I mean, it's like it's public knowledge. So, it's the dorm the housing at the um old hotel. Yeah. We we run legal notices. So yeah, those are already in progress. Um so yeah, it'll be it'll be for that only thing on the docket. Yes. All right. Well, anyone to make a motion to the journ. All right. All right. All in favor? I Let's go.