The long-awaited, long-debated redevelopment of Long Reach Village Center in Columbia will be stalled another year after county officials decided recently not to review the project this spring.

The delay is essentially a matter of this year’s elections. The county’s Zoning Board had previously said that any cases wanting to be decided this year would have to be scheduled and heard by mid-April — so that the decisions could be rendered before the June 26 primary election.

The Zoning Board is composed of members of the County Council members, and by law cannot hear cases during an election year after the primary.

Orchard Development Corp. president Scott Armiger, developer of the project, said he was informed in a memo to his attorney, Todd Brown, last week that the Zoning Board could not schedule a date by mid-April to hear the case — thus putting its review on hold.

“The Zoning Board members worked to find additional dates and were unable to find possible hearing dates before the deadline,” wrote Robin Regner, administrative assistant for the zoning board, in the