Editor’s note: The story was updated on 12/8/25 at 12:20 p.m. to reflect a schedule change due to inclement weather. The change is to a meeting mentioned in the second to last paragraph.
Lynchburg residents can provide input Wednesday for a proposed zoning amendment that would limit where abortion clinics can operate and require them to obtain a conditional-use permit.
The city’s planning commission will host the public hearing at 4 p.m. in the council chamber of City Hall.
Following the public hearing, planning commission members will discuss any changes they’d like to make to the proposed amendment and vote to recommend either approval or denial. From there, the amendment will advance to the city council in January and face another public hearing, a possible round of changes, and a final vote for adoption.
As Lynchburg’s zoning ordinance is written now, abortion clinics are permitted by right in six zoning districts because they qualify as outpatient care clinics.
The amendment, first presented by council member Marty Misjuns at the Oct. 14 city council work session, would introduce a new definition for abortion clinics that would separate them from other medical facilities. Under the new definition, abortion clinics would no longer be permitted anywhere by right but could qualify for conditional-use permits in some zoning districts as long as extensive land-use standards are met.
There are currently no abortion clinics in Lynchburg. The proposed zoning amendment would apply to new clinics that choose to move in or current medical facilities that change the services they offer.
The agenda item in front of the planning commission Wednesday addresses each element of Misjuns’ three-part proposal to amend the city’s zoning ordinance, with considerations to:
- Create a separate definition for abortion clinic — specifying it as a facility where procedures with “intent to knowingly destroy the life of an embryo or fetus” are performed — and amend the definitions of “hospital” and “medical and dental clinic” to exclude abortion clinics;
- Authorize abortion clinics with conditional-use permits in some zoning districts;
- Establish specific land restrictions for where abortion clinics can be located. In the wording of the current proposal, no abortion clinic could be operated within 1,000 feet of eight kinds of zoned districts — including all four of the city’s types of residential districts — nor operated within 1,000 feet of any place of worship, school, public park and various other community hubs.
The planning commission’s agenda item is largely similar to the proposal Misjuns made in mid-October, but city staff made some adjustments “with the approval of the patron of the original draft” to “help with enforceability and defensibility,” according to a report from the Department of Community Development.
The main difference between the October and December proposed amendments is the number and type of zoning districts that would allow abortion clinics with conditional-use permits. In the original October proposal, conditional-use permits would be available in two zoning districts, both labeled as “institutional.” In the updated December proposal, conditional-use permits would be available in three districts: one of the former institutional districts and an additional community business district and general business district.
“The location of these districts should provide for a high level of access, relatively large amounts of level land and opportunities to shield adjacent residential districts from nuisance effects,” the community development report reads.
Lynchburg’s proposed zoning amendment follows suit with a number of other Virginia localities that have passed similar ordinances and resolutions to enshrine their anti-abortion stances in local law since 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal protection of abortion access.
When Misjuns presented the proposal in October, he said his goal was to be proactive about protecting sensitive areas from “facilities that can be a lightning rod for protest and political activity” using tools that the city already has. There are more than a dozen other land uses that require conditional-use permits in Lynchburg due to the community impact of their operations, he said.
“We shouldn’t have abortion clinics across the street from high schools or next to churches, and that’s what this is about. It’s about restricting where they could be located should they choose to come to Lynchburg,” he said at the Oct. 14 work session. He added that the proposed amendment would not affect emergency care provided at hospitals that involves abortion.
The October work session ended in a unanimous vote — from the 6-1 Republican majority council — to send the amendment along to the planning commission.
Wednesday’s planning commission meeting is on the calendar alongside other city government meetings that will round out 2025. The city council will hold a special-called meeting at 1 p.m. Tuesday to receive the results of the annual audit of Lynchburg’s finances. The finance committee will meet at its normal time and location on Tuesday.
At the special meeting, the city council will vote on whether to cancel its work session and regular meeting scheduled for Tuesday. If cancelled, the normal meeting schedule would resume on Jan. 13.