Planning commission gets birds-eye view of Liberty Univ. expansion plans

By Alicia Petska
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: April 30, 2008

Lynchburg planners got a bird’s eye view of Liberty University on Tuesday, heading up Candlers Mountain as part of a four-hour presentation on the school’s expansion plans.

LU is seeking to rezone 237 acres along the mountain’s base as part of its goal of growing to 15,000 students within the next five years.

The Lynchburg Planning Commission, which is currently reviewing the request, asked to get a first-hand look at the targeted development site as part of its deliberations.

“We want to walk the talk,” Commissioner Andy Sale explained. “To go beyond the paper and the PowerPoints and get our shoes dirty.”

The presentation started with nearly two hours of discussion between the two sides on many of the plan’s details, including traffic alleviation and environmental protection.

LU administrators outlined the multi-tiered approach being taken to reduce the number of students driving to and around campus. Those included expanding the school’s partnership with the public bus system, implementing a carpool program and moving forward with vehicular tunnels that will allow university-bound cars to circumvent Wards Road.

That latter project will likely be complete by this time next year, officials said.

The school then offered a tour of some of its project sites, including Candlers Mountain, where it hopes to build athletic fields, new dormitories and a ski slope.

Planning commissioners said afterward the field trip was informative, but added they continued to have questions about the expansion’s impact. The project will likely be taken to at least one more work session before any recommendation is made to City Council.

Lee Beaumont, director of auxiliary services at LU, said they didn’t mind the delay.

“This is probably the biggest plan that’s ever been submitted to the city, I would think,” he said. “We want to make sure all due diligence is done and all questions answered. That’s part of being a good partner.”

LU officials themselves remain in opposition to a higher standard on waterway protection proposed by city planners.

The school has been asked to mitigate any waterway damage inflicted during construction by paying for equivalent improvements within the same watershed.

Mitigation is a requirement of both state and federal law, but the university is not obligated to stick to the same watershed. School officials have said they will keep improvements local if possible, but have protested attempts to make it a formal mandate.

The city cannot compel the school to agree to the proposal, City Planner Tom Martin said.