The Lynchburg City Council will meet twice this week to take final votes on items reviewed in work sessions last month, including a reaffirmation of the city’s Second Amendment sanctuary status and a zoning ordinance amendment that would restrict where abortion clinics can operate.
The Second Amendment sanctuary vote will take place at the city council’s 7 p.m. meeting on Tuesday. The abortion zoning ordinance requires a public hearing, which will be hosted at 6 p.m. Thursday along with two other public hearings, all rescheduled from January due to the effects of the winter storm.
The city council passed a resolution to establish Lynchburg as a Second Amendment sanctuary in January 2023. Along with making the declaration, the resolution states that the city intends to uphold Second Amendment rights, not use city funds to restrict Second Amendment rights, and oppose any infringement on Second Amendment rights using legal means such as court action.
Vice Mayor Curt Diemer and city council member Chris Faraldi have each proposed resolutions to reaffirm the city’s sanctuary status, citing the current climate in Richmond. Several gun control bills have been introduced in the General Assembly this year, including a proposal that would prohibit the manufacture, sale and purchase of many semiautomatic rifles, pistols and shotguns deemed to be “assault firearms” under an expanded definition.
The reaffirmation would “send a message to Richmond that we disapprove of the direction they’re going,” Faraldi said at a Jan. 29 work session.
“I think the time is right,” Diemer said at the work session. “I think there is a reason that we need to do it again. This General Assembly has proposed even more legislation that is egregiously taking away our rights in Lynchburg if it passes.”
Faraldi’s proposal involves reaffirming the 2023 resolution as it is stated. He said at the work session that following precedent is the best way to keep the resolution legally sound.
Diemer’s proposal edits and adds language to the existing resolution, which he said reflects the “present legislative environment to bring it up to date.” Some changes are made in the preamble, which largely add context to the environment in which the 2023 resolution was passed and the need to make such a move again. The other changes are found in the resolving clause, where Diemer adds two resolutions and tweaks language in the declarations already on the books.
In 2020, more than 120 towns, cities and counties in Virginia declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries in a response to a suite of gun safety laws passed under former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, including those that require background checks for all gun sales, relinquishment for domestic abusers under restraining orders, limits on the frequency of handgun purchases, and mandatory reporting of lost or stolen firearms.
Lynchburg tried to pass a sanctuary resolution in 2020, but after a six-hour public hearing with about 1,000 attendees, the council voted 5-2 against it. Three years later, after Republicans gained a majority, the council voted 5-2 in favor of the sanctuary resolution during a work session.
Resolutions of its kind are largely symbolic, as no local legislation regarding the Second Amendment can supersede state or federal law.
All four counties in the Lynchburg metro area — Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford and Campbell — are Second Amendment sanctuaries. The Bedford County Board of Supervisors in December unanimously voted on a resolution reconfirming the status. Bedford’s new resolution is almost identical to the former.
On Tuesday, the Lynchburg City Council will vote on whether to adopt Diemer’s or Faraldi’s proposal for reaffirmation. The vote does not require a public hearing, but residents can speak to the topic during the meeting’s general public comment period.
Abortion zoning amendment and other Thursday public hearings
On Thursday, the city council will host three public hearings and take subsequent votes to make up for a meeting canceled during January’s winter weather.
One hearing will invite community members to share their thoughts on a proposed abortion zoning ordinance that would significantly restrict where abortion clinics can operate in the city.
The proposed zoning ordinance, if adopted Thursday, 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 limited areas. According to a map included in the agenda packet, the stretch between Candlers Mountain Road and Odd Fellows Road is one of a handful of areas that would meet all the zoning requirements of the proposed ordinance.
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. There are currently no abortion clinics in Lynchburg, so the proposed zoning amendment would only apply to new clinics that choose to move in.
If the council approves the zoning amendment, Lynchburg would join a growing list of other Virginia localities that have passed similar ordinances and resolutions to restrict abortion access since 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal protection of it.
Faraldi announced in a press release and on his website Monday that he would not be supporting the zoning amendment, citing his concern that ambiguity in the amendment’s language could lead to a loophole where Planned Parenthood “could claim exemption from the ordinance altogether, bypassing Council review.” He has criticized the amendment since it was first presented by council member Marty Misjuns in October and promotes a different proposal that would regulate all outpatient hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers, which would include abortion clinics, together as a class.
The other two public hearings will ask residents to weigh in on:
- The annual housing and infrastructure goals pursued by the Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnerships programs, and;
- The relocation of the first precinct polling place of the fourth ward from St. Thomas More Catholic Church to the All Peoples Church. The proposed new polling place is about a mile away from the former, is ADA-compliant and has adequate parking and polling space, according to meeting materials.