Update 8:15 p.m. Jan. 26: The Lynchburg City Council has rescheduled its Tuesday meetings due to inclement weather, according to a city press release. Most items on the regular meeting agenda, including the redistricting resolution, have been moved to Thursday at 7 p.m. The three public hearings originally scheduled for Tuesday, including the one for the abortion zoning amendment, have been rescheduled for Feb. 12 at 6 p.m.
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Topics in the air in Richmond are blowing to Lynchburg on Tuesday as the city council takes final votes on a zoning amendment that would restrict where abortion clinics can operate and a resolution that would express opposition to statewide redistricting efforts.
The public hearing and vote for the zoning amendment and the vote for the resolution are scheduled for the city council’s 7 p.m. meeting. If weather impacts the meeting schedule, city staff will communicate a new plan as quickly as possible, said city spokesperson Anna Bentson.
Earlier this month, the General Assembly cleared four constitutional amendments to move on to the last step of their adoption process: a voter referendum. One of those proposed amendments, HJ 1, would enshrine access to abortion in the state constitution if passed by voters. Another, HJ 4, would allow the General Assembly to redraw its congressional district map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Lynchburg elected officials are taking local action on the same topics.
Lynchburg’s proposed zoning ordinance, if adopted Tuesday, 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.
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 or current medical facilities that change the services they offer.
The amendment was first presented by council member Marty Misjuns in October, and the city council voted 7-0 to initiate the zoning amendment process. City staff made edits to the amendment throughout the fall. A planning commission motion to approve the amendment failed 4-2 in December.
If adopted Tuesday, the zoning amendment would require abortion clinics to obtain a conditional-use permit from the 6-1 Republican majority council to move into town. Conditional-use permits would be available in one institutional district, one community business district and one general business district, as long as specific land restrictions are met. The land restrictions would prevent abortion clinics from operating within 1,000 feet of eight kinds of zoned districts — including all four of the city’s types of residential districts — or within 1,000 feet of any place of worship, school, public park and various other community hubs.
That significantly limits the places where abortion clinics could open, according to a map included in Tuesday’s meeting agenda packet. The stretch between Candlers Mountain Road and Odd Fellows Road is one of a handful of areas that meet all the zoning requirements.
City staff edited the zoning amendment between the initial October proposal and the December planning commission meeting to improve its “ability to be enforced and ultimately defended if it was ever challenged,” said Community Development Director Tom Martin at the city council’s Jan. 13 work session. The October proposal was more restrictive.
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.
In another conversation in Richmond, Democrats in the legislature have called for a redistricting effort to redraw Virginia’s congressional maps outside of the normal 10-year period. The action is seen as a response to Republican President Donald Trump’s call on conservative-led states to redistrict their congressional maps in favor of GOP candidates.
General Assembly Republicans filed a complaint in Tazewell County Circuit Court in October to seek a judgment on the constitutionality of the move. Meanwhile, Democrats have moved forward with setting a date for voters to approve the redrawing.
Lynchburg is taking up that issue, too, with a resolution introduced by council member Chris Faraldi.
The resolution, if approved by the city council Tuesday, will document that the city council “expresses strong opposition to any attempt to remove or amend” the section of the state constitution that governs redistricting and “declares its intent to oppose unconstitutional or illegal redistricting,” among other statements. The clerk of council would then forward the resolution to the city’s legislative delegation in the General Assembly.
“I see this [redistricting effort] as a legitimate threat to the city of Lynchburg. I see it as diluting the influence that this city has currently on the 5th district of Virginia, whether it’s Republican or Democrat, we are the population center,” Faraldi said when introducing the resolution at the Jan. 13 work session, referencing what could happen if Lynchburg’s map was redrawn to include other localities such as Blacksburg and Harrisonburg.