A plan proposing more than 300 apartments near the Wyndhurst neighborhood was denied by Lynchburg City Council this week after the body voted not to grant a conditional use permit for the project.
Council voted 6-0 to reject a conditional use permit to TPB Enterprises, which would have allowed for the construction of 306 apartments at 1001, 1009 Dillard Drive and 2009 Enterprise Drive.
Council only has six sitting members currently, following the resignation of At-large Councilman Randy Nelson in early November.
The plan received a 3-2 recommendation from the city’s Planning Commission, with one member absent.
TPB Enterprises, developer of other major apartment complexes including West Edge and Cottontown Manor, sought a new conditional use permit for the site, as one granted to the property in 2019 had expired.
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The group first approached council in 2019 hoping to construct 116 apartments, as well as a gym and commercial space, but it has since reduced the space of the gym and commercial space to add more units instead.
Much of the discussion this week on this permit revolved around the industrial nature of the plot of land. In 2019, the city rezoned the property from Light Industrial (I-2) to Business Community conditional (B-3C).
Despite now being zoned for business, the plot is surrounded by several industrial sites, including J. Crew and Hanwha Azdel Inc.
These plants not only add to the traffic in the area around the time of shift changes, they also create a lot of noise, one speaker said.
George Bondurant, speaking on behalf of Hanwha Azdel Inc. and opposed to the permit, proposed a rhetorical question to council: “If I bought 15 acres in Irvington Park, would you give me a rezoning to put a manufacturing facility there?”
Other speakers in opposition argued the apartments would exacerbate the long traffic lines, while some continued to express their concern for development in this part of town.
The change in the number of apartments was an issue for multiple councilors as well.
“I just feel like the increase to the number of apartments, and the projected increase of tractor-trailers for businesses is a concern,” Tweedy said.
Helgeson, who said he “may have supported the project” in 2019, said now “it’s now three times the apartments and one-fifth the commercial [space].”
“What it was before … we approved it because it was a good project and we believed it,” Helgeson later said.
“It’s a different day today, it’s a whole different project.”
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