Council preview: single‑family lots, Wards Ferry townhomes and K–12 school to return for January hearings

Planning staff presented three separate land-use petitions at the Dec. 10 Lynchburg City Council work session; each item will return for a public hearing and council action on Jan. 14, 2025.

2712 Concord Turnpike / 118–120 Spinoza Circle (rezoning for single‑family detached housing) Planning staff said the petition would rezone the site from R-2 (10,000-square-foot minimum lots, 75-foot frontage) to R-3 (as small as 4,000-square-foot lots, 30-foot frontage) to allow single‑family detached houses on smaller lots. The submitted concept shows 21 single‑family homes (one additional unit possible depending on stormwater‑facility sizing). The proposal aligns with the Tirana Pleasant Valley master plan and the city’s comprehensive plan recommendations for low-density residential uses in the area. Water and sewer service are available; sewer would rely on individual grinder pumps feeding a sanitary force main because of local topography. Side setbacks in the R‑3 district were noted as 5 feet on the side yard.

Wards Ferry Road / 3142–3146 (rezoning, CUP, townhome development) The petition would amend the future land use map on two larger parcels from neighborhood commercial to medium‑density residential and would allow about 18 townhomes and one duplex. Planning staff said the petitioner previously proposed 24 apartments in 2023 but withdrew before the public hearing and later obtained a Board of Zoning Appeals variance reducing the townhouse minimum acreage from 2 acres to 1.934 acres. The city transportation engineer recommended limiting access at Copeley Place to right‑in/right‑out movements because left turns were judged unsafe. Staff noted the site could serve as a transition between commercial uses and existing single‑family homes but emphasized traffic constraints at the nearby Wards Ferry/Timberlake corridor.

4742 Leesville Road (Conditional Use Permit for K–12 private school) Staff described a petition to repurpose an existing roughly 15,000‑square‑foot church building on about 6.7 acres for a K–12 private school that would enroll up to 70 students. The site is zoned R‑1 (low‑density residential), where private schools are allowed with a CUP; the use aligns with the future land‑use designation for an institutional use. No exterior improvements or new sidewalk construction were required as proposed because the building is existing; staff said students would use public school bus transportation, reducing individual drop‑off trips.

Each of the items will return to council as a public hearing on Jan. 14, 2025; planning staff advised council on the site constraints and recommended conditions (for example, right‑in/right‑out access for the Wards Ferry petition). Councilors asked questions about lot sizes, frontage requirements, affordability, traffic and sidewalks during the briefing.