Lynchburg planners give Liberty University expansion plans OK
Advertisement
Text size: small | medium | large
By Alicia Petska
Published: May 14, 2008
Lynchburg Planning Commission narrowly approved Liberty University’s expansion plans Wednesday after making numerous changes to the proposal.
“I’ve lost a lot of sleep over this,” Chairwoman Laura Hamilton said just before the vote. “But I think the compromise we’ve come to is one that’s positive for the city.”
A dozen or so revisions were made to the LU package that afternoon to satisfy concerns from both city and school officials.
LU is seeking approval of a new master plan that prepares it to reach 15,000 students within five years. Officials expect to be at 11,000 by the start of next fall’s semester.
The plan they brought forward calls for building out along the base of Candlers Mountain. Lynchburg leaders are being asked to rezone 237 acres there to accommodate the expansion.
The planning commission passed both the master plan and the rezoning on a 3-2 vote with two members absent. Their recommendation will be forwarded to City Council, which has final say over the matter.
Commissioners Rick Barnes and Gerry Swienton dissented, saying the proposal wasn’t crafted according to sound planning philosophy.
Barnes had expressed concern early in the process about plans to build dorms along Candlers Mountain away from the main campus and all the academic buildings.
“There are a lot of things I can support in this plan,” he said Wednesday. “But, overall, I don’t think it reflects the best principles of campus planning.”
Swienton echoed those sentiments, tacking on further concerns about traffic and environmental impact.
“I really feel we’re making this decision, not on best planning principles, but on a fall enrollment deadline, and that concerns me,” he said.
Commissioners Ted Hannon and Sharon Oglesby joined Hamilton in approving the expansion plans.
LU officials said afterward they were pleased with the decision and felt a mutually beneficial plan had been arrived at.
“At the end of the day, we came up with a plan that’s good for the city and good for the university,” said director of auxiliary services Lee Beaumont. “… We compromised and worked together.”
LU objected to some of the original conditions proposed by city planning staffers. The biggest sticking point was a suggestion that the school be required to offset any waterway damage inflicted during construction by making equivalent improvements somewhere within the same watershed.
That caveat was changed Wednesday from a requirement to a recommendation. LU officials said they’ll make improvements locally whenever possible and added their preliminary plans have been positively reviewed by state environmental officials.
Lynchburg did not have the authority to compel the university to comply with its request.
Other alterations made to the terms attached to LU’s plans include:
- Changing the timetable on all traffic improvements at LU’s request so projects are tied to specific enrollment targets rather than calendar dates.
- Making it clear the city will partner with the school to construct three pedestrian crossings once it hits 12,000 students, which will likely be around fall 2009. City officials sought that change following some discussion on who would foot the bill.
- Adding a provision that requires new traffic lights and a turn lane to be installed at the crossing of Wards Road and Harvard Street once LU builds its planned vehicular tunnels there.
- Allowing LU to clear up to seven acres of trees beyond what has been specifically designated within the master plan. University officials requested that revision as a means of preserving some flexibility in their future development options.
Post a Comment
Please Log In
Comment posting requires free registration with Lynchburg News Advance.
Already have an account? Please log in.
Can't find what you're looking for? Try our quick search:
Reader Reactions
Posted by ( Lynchburg Businessman ) on June 01, 2008 at 4:37 pm
hogtown gal, the TRBC and LU entities do not pay taxes however… the 10,000+ that are here because of the two do pay taxes. LU is one of the largest employers in the city. Think of all the income tax that is generated to pay for the roads and facilities. The students also spend millions each year at the resaurants ands shops around the campus. Don’t act like you are funding everything out of your pocket. Some of us are thankful for the growth and are happy for the increased tax revenue that is helping to pay for the improvements to the public school system here.
Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on May 30, 2008 at 1:01 pm
How in the world can it be “unconstitutional” to grind up Fundy-mental cases for sausage meat to feed the poor? COME ON!
Posted by ( hogtown gal ) on May 30, 2008 at 12:27 pm
whysobitter, Candler’s mtn has been in Lynchburg for generations. LU and TRBC should not be allowed to build anything else on that mtn because of all the traffic congestion MESS they have already created on Wards Rd. Jerry Falwell nor LU does not own this town as they think they do. Jerry Falwell, before he discovered he could make big bucks and fame by becoming a preacher, worked at the Foundry. I hear he used to go out to drink with the guys after work every day. Progress is fine as long as it is not done at other people’s expense (the taxpayers who must foot the bill for the roads, traffic lights, more police, etc. created by LU’s expansions.) Also LU and TRBC pay NO TAXES since they are tax exempt.
Posted by ( whysobitter? ) on May 30, 2008 at 10:18 am
So let me see if I got this right...God owns the mountain. Therefore the fact that by law Liberty owns the land on most of the mountain means nothing because God owns it and we shouldn’t build on something God owns…
by that logic does that mean we should all live in the woods somewhere and not build houses because God owns all the land??
That is seriously the most flawed argument I have ever heard. At least Cosmo is upright about how he feels about Christianity in general...of course his views are unconstitutional...but that is another story all together...saying Liberty or any other person or group shouldn’t build on their own land because it is God’s land is just plain silly…
Posted by ( hogtown gal ) on May 29, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Puffin, U are right about Candler’s Mtn. I always thought the Candlers whome the mtn is named after owned it. U are right too about Falwell and how he did not want anybody in this town to drink and tried to stop it from even being sold - and this coming from the son of a bootlegger who made his fortune by moonshining.
Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on May 29, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Do this for me Josh. Pretend you and I never heard of any Earthly religions. But, we both want to understand what all these “religious” humans are talking about. The only fair way to do this is to let them ALL have a chance to say their piece. Since there are and have been untold thousands of religions we should, to be fair, start with the oldest and work our way forward. Before we even got close to hearing what the Egyptian civilization had to say we would have both had way more than enough to see what is going on. EVERYBODY claims to hold the only true religion. Virgin births and resurrections are as common as miracles. All the Gods, at one time or another, intervened on behalf of their followers. All promise an afterlife, for those who toe the line, better than this one. All strongly suggest doing away with non-believers with varying degrees of violence. NOBODY has ANY proof! What we would soon learn is that they all share the same attributes with variations on the same theme. It would be utterly impossible for us to keep a straight face as a new “explainer” took the stand. We would be rolling our eyes! What would elicit our biggest laughs would be when one of them said, “Yeah, but you can’t prove I’m wrong.” or Who is to say that mine isn’t the true one.” We would find ourselves embarrassed for them in their intellectual simplicity. To go on listening to more made up stories would be so tedious and counterproductive… we would call an end to it. I did that in my childhood Josh. Now, you want me to listen to one more story, as if I hadn’t figured this out yet. As if I don’t know how this movie ends. As if I can get off on “believing”. I can’t! It ain’t my drug! Because of that I consider myself a very lucky person. I can’t turn on the TV or pick up the paper without seeing another religious person making a fool of themselves. To be truthful, I see it as a mind poison. I have no choice but to fight it. Well, perhaps fight is the wrong word. To be true to myself I just can’t pretend with a straight face that it’s interesting or worth my consideration even. I think the word I am searching for is “silly”. It’s just so damn silly!
Posted by ( Puffin ) on May 29, 2008 at 1:52 pm
luv2bliberal - Hey, that sounds GREAT. But can you please make sure that they are Male strippers? Thanks.........
But remember I don’t live on CANDLERS Mountain that GOD owns and not LU so don’t go to the wrong watering hole. Oh by the way, I do believe Mr. Falwell may frown upon the idea of alcohol. While he was still with us he was able to condemn that in town too, though it was and is legal......
Posted by ( luv2bliberal ) on May 29, 2008 at 10:06 am
Puffin,
I’m glad you feel that way. I agree with you. I plan on having a bunch of strippers with me and the boys in “your” backyard saturday night. Since no one “owns” anything anymore. We are having beer, BBQ, and baked beans. Get your car off the blocks back there, that is where we are going to put the band...........
Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on May 29, 2008 at 9:53 am
You post] “Finally, I’ve repeatedly objected to and talked about the demonizing of homosexuals, but you still throw it in my face like I haven’t dealt with it already.” I forgot Josh. You ever so “repeatedly” explained how they are just not as good as the rest of us. Can they openly even exist at Liberty Josh? Are they that good at least? I must conclude that you spent a lot of time listening to Super-naturalists lecture you on Naturalism at Liberty. A process of eliminating all the things other people don’t have answers for… and then saying, “see, now we can insert OUR beliefs and WE HAVE THE ANSWER!” It’s the usual way things are done in religious circles. Indoctrination passing for education. Josh, to me you are an Aztec. A Hindu snake worshiper, a follower of the Great Coconut God Manu-Manu. You are a representative of all the members of the human race that get a neurological high out of having your left brain tell lies to your right brain. A “Filter addict”. You come in thousands of varieties and the only really dangerous thing about you all is you get “less” high if people who don’t agree with you are around. Addicts NEVER like to get “less” high! Throughout history you all have thrived on silencing dissenters in many ways, most not so nice. You name “Christian Naturalists” as if they had a choice of religious beliefs and picked being (or pretending to be) Christian out of thin air. What would have happened to [copernicus, galileo, newton] if they stated that they thought Christianity was a load of crap Josh? Come on! Don’t insult my intelligence. Furthermore, objectivity does not exist. That is a given. One can aim toward objectivity only, realizing that even our rudimentary understanding of physics proves it to be only a mental construct. I don’t hate Christians. I don’t hate rats. I feel the same way about Christians that spread dangerous lies the way I do about rats that carry the plague. I don’t want to be around them. Sorry Josh, but I don’t want to “believe in” things. I don’t get off on it and in fact it makes me feel like a loser. Like I cashed in my brains for magic beans. Even as a child I would have nothing to do with it. As a result it is utterly impossible for me to trust the judgement of anybody who has “magic beans” where their brains should be. I see you, the snake worshiper, an Aztec and the guy who worships coconuts all sitting in a room trying to convince each other that your individual, made up, cosmologies are the only true ones. That’s human history. For me it’s embarrassing. For you it’s meat & potatoes. I’m not in that room Josh. That seems to be the one thing you can’t comprehend. [For Puffin] You are wrong! The Great God Manu Manu Created the world out of a Holy Coconut and gave the rights to control it to his followers only. ALL others are to be subjugated!
Posted by ( Puffin ) on May 29, 2008 at 7:57 am
I’m not sure what all the homosexual, anti-Jesus comments have to do with the subject of the City Planners allowing L.U. destroy more of Lynchburg and GOD’S mountains?? (particularly CANDLERS Mountain that LU thinks they Own, but really God does..no man can own a mountain, only their VANITY can.....) Jerry Falwell did not create the world (although some poor souls believe he did), the Lord did—therefore it is HIS, not anybody, LU or anybody else’s...........