City ‘big-box’ law requires more work [(Va.) News and Advance]

City ‘big-box’ law requires more work [(Va.) News and Advance]

Lynchburg City Council members will do more research before deciding whether to create new rules for developers wanting to build large retail stores.

In March, the city’s planning commission recommended requiring developers building retail stores larger than 50,000 square feet to get a permit from council.

Requiring a permit would mean council could study the stores’ plans on a case-by-case basis, and citizens could voice their thoughts at public hearings

But council members decided Tuesday to study other cities’ regulations first and consider refining what they said would be an overly broad rule with a number of gray areas.

“There were concerns that it was too simplistic,” City Manager Kimball Payne said of the original proposed law, which simply stated that “retail establishments exceeding 50,000 square feet” would need permits.

The new rule would have applied “by right” to specific types of land-zoning that currently allow such large stores, meaning developers don’t need council’s approval.

Planning commissioners and some council members have said they support new rules regulating so-called “big box” stores because of their heavy impact on traffic, noise and the environment.

At a public hearing in May, local developers and real estate agents spoke against the proposed law, calling it another hoop for businesses to jump through.

The proposed law fails to address a number of scenarios, including whether a permit would be needed if a building expansion pushed a smaller store over the 50,000-square-foot mark, they said.

In earlier discussions, city officials said the only project that would be immediately impacted if the proposed law passed would be a new Wal-Mart planned for the Forest Plaza West shopping center on Old Forest Road.

City staff members will study other cities with similar regulations and will report back to council in August, Payne said.

Posted by Beth Gostanian on Wednesday, June 13, 2007

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