Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge school board to discuss preschool sites during Feb. 24 work session

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Elm Grove Park Preschool Conceptual Site Plan Jan 2017 Large

A conceptual site plan for a new preschool at Elm Grove Park on East Tennessee Avenue in east Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy Studio 4 Design/City of Oak Ridge)

 

The Oak Ridge Board of Education will discuss preschool sites during a February 24 work session.

The work session starts at 8 a.m. Friday, February 24, in the conference room of the Robert J. Smallridge School Administration Building at 304 New York Avenue.

Oak Ridge municipal and school officials had previously identified Elm Grove Park off East Tennessee Avenue in east Oak Ridge as a preferred site. It’s a city-owned parcel and the site of a former school, and it’s relatively flat and has city-owned utilities. Also, there aren’t many obstacles that would affect construction, and site borings have already been done, city officials said recently. But a petition drive has been started to object to building the preschool there.

In the meantime, city officials learned that a day care center recently closed at Scarboro Community Center, and they are now also considering adding on to that city-owned building off Carver Avenue. The Scarboro Community Center was built with federal Community Development Block Grant funds, and there is no debt on the building, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said. It already has a gymnasium, a cafeteria, offices, multi-purpose rooms, and smaller rooms, and there is a playground across the street, city officials said. Additional classrooms and administrative and staff space would be added. [Read more…]

Council to consider opposing use of public funds for private schools unless certain conditions met

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The Oak Ridge City Council is pictured above in December 2016. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider opposing the use of public funds for private schools unless certain conditions are met.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education has already taken a position. In November 2016, the Board of Education said it opposed the taking of funds from public education in any Tennessee community unless the local school board agrees, there is statutory assurance that schools receiving the funds will comply with the same curriculum and testing standards required of public schools, and until the Basic Education Program is “adequately funded” by the Tennessee General Assembly.

There has been increased discussion of the potential use of school vouchers, at least in part because of the nomination and confirmation of Betsy DeVos as the new U.S. education secretary.

In a memo to City Council members, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said the Tennessee General Assembly has debated the merits of implementing a school voucher system for many years as a way to provide quality education for all students in the state.

“This system would allow a freedom of choice for all students to choose to leave their geographical-centered public school to another school, taking the state-allocated funds for that public school system to the new system, be it public or private,” Watson said. [Read more…]

Council to consider $72,000 contract for new Peace Bell Pavilion

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Design of the Peace Pavilion for the Oak Ridge International Friendship Bell by Demian\Wilbur\Architects, Washington, D.C.

 

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider a $72,000 contract for a new Peace Bell Pavilion at Alvin K. Bissell Park.

The contract with Demian Wilbur Architects of Washington, D.C., would be for construction documents, bidding administration, and construction administration. Funding would be provided by the Capital Improvements Program.

In a memo to Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, Recreation and Parks Director Jon Hetrick said $25,000 was allocated for the project in fiscal year 2016, and another $50,000 was allocated in fiscal year 2017. So far, $15,000 has been used for conceptual planning by Demian Wilbur Architects, Hetrick said. The rest of the money for the contract will be allocated in the fiscal year 2018 Capital Projects Fund. [Read more…]

City, schools could pick preschool site soon

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Elm Grove Park Preschool Conceptual Site Plan Jan 2017 Large

A conceptual site plan for a new preschool at Elm Grove Park on East Tennessee Avenue in east Oak Ridge. Officials said the plan would keep the park and the walking trail. (Image courtesy Studio Four Design/City of Oak Ridge)

 

Oak Ridge municipal and school officials could start selecting a site for the new preschool as early as this month. There are two options being considered: Elm Grove Park and Scarboro Community Center.

Financing for the project, which would include bonds, could be included in the budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

In the meantime, a petition drive has been started to oppose building the preschool at Elm Grove Park.

The park had previously been announced as the preferred site for the new preschool, which has been on the city’s wish list for many years. Elm Grove Park is a city-owned parcel in east Oak Ridge off East Tennessee Avenue. It’s the site of a former school, it’s relatively flat, and it has city-owned utilities. Also, there aren’t many obstacles that would affect construction, and site borings have already been done, city officials said last week. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge receives Blankenship Field grant, primarily for synthetic turf

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Blankenship Field Overall Plan

An overall view of the proposed renovation of Blankenship Field and Jack Armstrong Stadium. (File image from April 2015)

 

Oak Ridge has received a state grant of just under $500,000 that will be used primarily for synthetic turf at Blankenship Field. But it is also expected to help pay for track improvements, upgraded restrooms, fencing between the football field and track, and improvements to the Cedar Hill trailhead behind the visitors bleachers at Jack Armstrong Stadium, city officials said Thursday.

The Local Parks and Recreation Fund grant requires a 50 percent match. The match is supposed to be provided by the nonprofit Blankenship Field Revitalization Foundation, and it can be a mix of cash and in-kind contributions, although the precise percentage of each—cash versus in-kind contributions—isn’t clear yet. The foundation has been chaired by Tennessee Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the Senate Randy McNally.

Officials expect to know more after four of them—City Manager Mark Watson, City Council member Rick Chinn, Recreation and Parks Director Jon Hetrick, and Allen Thacker of Oak Ridge Schools—attend mandatory grant training in Nashville in February.

After that, the Oak Ridge City Council could accept the grant, possibly as early as the February 13 meeting. [Read more…]

City manager to discuss economic development at Lunch with League on Tuesday

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Mark Watson

Mark Watson

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson will discuss what the city needs to do to stay competitive in today’s economic development market during a Tuesday lunch.

Watson will be at Lunch with the League from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, January 17, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, which is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Watson has been Oak Ridge city manager since August 2010. Before coming to Oak Ridge, he served as city manager of six cities in Texas, Montana, and Arizona. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas, where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public administration, a press release said. Watson has served in local government for more than 30 years. [Read more…]

Council approves $120,000 for city-owned golf course

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Centennial Golf Course Dec 10, 2015

The Tennessee Centennial Golf Course is pictured above in Oak Ridge on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council agreed in a 5-2 vote on Monday to provide $120,000 to continue operating the Tennessee Centennial Golf Course, which the city owns in east Oak Ridge off Edgemoor Road.

The request this year was smaller than it was in 2015, when Council approved a $325,000 transfer, but the golf course is still short of money needed to operate, despite all marketing efforts, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson told City Council members in a memo before Monday’s meeting.

Most of the $120,000 in funding—or $70,024 of it—will be used for accounts payable. The rest will be used for cash flow and salaries, Watson said.

“The slow winter season now requires funding to pay necessary costs and salaries through the winter quarter (January-March 2017),” Watson said. [Read more…]

City Council to consider $120,000 for golf course

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Centennial Golf Course Dec 10, 2015

The Tennessee Centennial Golf Course is pictured above in east Oak Ridge on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider approving $120,000 to continue operating the Tennessee Centennial Golf Course in east Oak Ridge off Edgemoor Road.

The request comes about one year after Council approved, in a 6-1 vote, a $325,000 transfer for operations at the golf course. About $225,000 of that transfer, a cash infusion, was for outstanding accounts payable, including for expenses that included clothing in the pro shop, a management fee, fertilizer, and irrigation costs. Another $100,000 was operational funding for the winter, including maintenance of the greens.

The request is smaller this year, but the golf course is still short of money needed to operate, despite all marketing efforts, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said in a Wednesday memo to City Council members.

“The slow winter season now requires funding to pay necessary costs and salaries through the winter quarter (January-March 2017),” Watson said.

Most of the $120,000 in funding—or $70,024 of it—would be used for accounts payable. The rest would be used for cash flow and salaries, Watson said. [Read more…]

With transfer agreement signed, plans call for developing AMSE site, relocating museum, demolishing building

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The American Museum of Science and Energy is pictured above on South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge on Monday, Jan. 2, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 3.

With a property transfer agreement signed, new businesses could be built on the 17 acres that now house the American Museum of Science and Energy, the museum will be relocated, and the AMSE building could be demolished, officials and a business executive said Friday.

The changes are allowed under an agreement approved by federal officials, unanimously approved by the Oak Ridge City Council in December, and signed by U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch in a Friday morning ceremony at Oak Ridge Associated Universities.

The U.S. Department of Energy said the transfer of the museum property, owned by the federal government, will allow the City of Oak Ridge to “explore future innovative development and economic stimulus opportunities.”

“From the Manhattan Project of World War II to the cutting-edge materials research of today, Oak Ridge has long played a vital role in American science and security,” Moniz said. “This agreement will ensure that Oak Ridge’s history is preserved and shared while providing the city a new opportunity to create jobs and strengthen the local economy.”

When the transfer is completed, DOE public outreach and education missions that are now conducted at AMSE and focused on Oak Ridge history, science, and national security will continue in renovated space in a two-story building that once housed a Sears store next to JCPenney at the former Oak Ridge Mall. The former mall is being redeveloped as Main Street Oak Ridge.

DOE said the AMSE property transfer will save more than $2 million in deferred maintenance costs at the museum and greatly reduce operating expenses. [Read more…]

DOE secretary to attend AMSE land transfer ceremony on Dec. 30

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Ernest Moniz

Ernest Moniz

Note: This story was last updated at 12:10 p.m.

U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will attend the land transfer ceremony for the American Museum of Science and Energy property in Oak Ridge next week.

The ceremony is scheduled for Friday, December 30. Also expected to attend are U.S. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann and City of Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch.

It’s a signing ceremony to formally transfer the roughly 17-acre AMSE site from the U.S. Department of Energy to the City of Oak Ridge.

Under an agreement unanimously approved by Oak Ridge City Council on December 13, the city is then expected to transfer the property in two phases to a company set up by RealtyLink, the South Carolina firm building Main Street Oak Ridge at the site of the former Oak Ridge Mall. [Read more…]

Council unanimously approves AMSE land transfer

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The American Museum of Science and Energy property is pictured above in central Oak Ridge. The wide road running vertically at center-right through the aerial photo is South Tulane Avenue. The proposed Main Street Oak Ridge would be on the right side of South Tulane Avenue at the former Oak Ridge Mall. The road running horizontally at bottom is South Illinois Avenue. AMSE is the brown-roofed building at top-center.

The American Museum of Science and Energy property is pictured above in central Oak Ridge. The wide road running vertically at center-right through the aerial photo is South Tulane Avenue. Main Street Oak Ridge is being built on the right side of South Tulane Avenue at the former Oak Ridge Mall. The road running horizontally at bottom is South Illinois Avenue. AMSE is the brown-roofed building at top-center.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 11 p.m.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the transfer of the American Museum of Science and Energy property. The roughly 17.42 acres will be transferred from the U.S. Department of Energy to the City of Oak Ridge. It could then be transferred in two phases to a company set up by the developer of Main Street Oak Ridge.

Under the agreement, the AMSE missions will be relocated within about one year to 18,000 square feet of space in a two-story building that once housed a Sears store next to JCPenney at Main Street Oak Ridge. That space, once finished, will be provided by TN Oak Ridge Illinois LLC, a Main Street Oak Ridge company, to the city at no cost for 15 years.

The city will, in turn, sublease the former Sears space to DOE at no charge for 15 years, and it can be used for the public outreach and education missions now conducted at AMSE—as well as for a temporary visitor center for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. That visitor center is now housed at AMSE.
[Read more…]

Oak Ridge firefighters help rescue 12 people trapped in cars surrounded by fires near Dollywood

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People being removed from vehicles while Oak Ridge Fire Department crews helped respond to the Sevier County wildfire starting Monday, Nov. 29, 2016. (Photo by Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley)

People being removed from vehicles while Oak Ridge Fire Department crews help respond to the wildfires that raged across Sevier County on Monday, Nov. 29, 2016. (Photo by Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 4:30 p.m.

Oak Ridge firefighters helped rescue 12 people and four dogs from three cars surrounded by fires behind Dollywood near Pigeon Forge on Monday.

The 12 visitors had been staying in rental cabins behind the Dollywood theme park.

The rescue happened at about 11 p.m. Monday after wildfires fueled by high winds spread from Chimney Tops in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the Gatlinburg area.

Before the rescue, an Oak Ridge Fire Department crew, along with five Maryville firefighters, had responded to several fire-related situations in Pigeon Forge, most of them in the Dollywood area, a City of Oak Ridge press release said. Pigeon Forge is near Gatlinburg.

At about 11 p.m., the firefighters were dispatched to Mitchell Road to help a man trapped in a cabin with fire all around him. But firefighters were unable to get there because the road was blocked by downed trees and power poles, the press release said. Firefighters began cutting trees until they encountered downed power lines and transformers.

Once Sevier County Electric System workers arrived and cut electrical power to the area, the crew again entered the fire area to rescue the man, the press release said. [Read more…]