News and events in Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Misty Robbins, right, of Snappy Tomato Pizza, said the restaurant could buy an electronic sign but wants to see what new regulations might be issued to govern them.
Business owners call them effective, a great way to get out their messages.
But a few residents call them distracting and offensive, at least in some cases.
Caught in the middle are Oak Ridge officials. They are trying to write new regulations for the electronic signs, considering how to govern brightness, display times, and transitions between messages.
The property at Woodland Town Center where an Aldi grocery store could open by September near Panera Bread and Aubrey’s between South Illinois and South Purdue avenues.
The new grocery store that could open on South Illinois Avenue by September could be an Aldi, a developer said Friday.
The 15,800-square-foot store would be on 1.6 acres at Woodland Town Center, where the new Aubrey’s and relocated Panera Bread opened in October. It would be across from those two restaurants, on the other side of a new roadway called Woodland Terrace East.
J.W. Herren of Mid South Utility Contractors of Putnam County helps prepare a one-acre site on Oak Ridge Turnpike for a new Pizza Inn restaurant.
A new Pizza Inn restaurant could open on Oak Ridge Turnpike next year, and work started at the one-acre site several weeks ago.
The project’s site plan is scheduled to be considered by the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission during a 5:30 p.m. Thursday meeting.
The new diner, part of a Dallas chain that has more than 300 restaurants across the world, will be at the corner of Oak Ridge Turnpike and ORAU Way, roughly where Mickey’s Produce was.
Thursday’s Planning Commission meeting is in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom. The commission will consider a landscaping request for the Pizza Inn project.
Toney Stevens, owner of Rivers Total Car Care in Oak Ridge, brought attention to a Dec. 6 letter the city sent to 18 owners of electronic signs, telling them the city continues to receive complaints about the signs and asking them to fix violations within 10 days.
After a backlash from business owners, a proposal to change the city’s electronic sign ordinance has been removed from next week’s agenda for the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission.
It’s not clear when the revisions, which would govern message display times and brightness, could be considered by the city.
Business owners with electronic signs had objected to the mid-December meeting date, the short amount of time they had to prepare, and a letter they recently received that gave them 10 days to fix any violations of the city’s sign ordinance. The letter, sent to 18 businesses with electronic signs, said signs that have messages that are animated, moving, or flashing are generally prohibited in Oak Ridge.
The proposed revisions would have required that electronic sign messages be static and shown for at least 10 seconds. Animations and movements between messages would not have been allowed and neither would animated video or continuous message scrolling.
Kroger Marketplace Site Plan
Oak Ridge officials on Monday will consider project approvals for two highly anticipated commercial developments on Illinois Avenue, one a Kroger Marketplace shopping center and the other a Weigel’s gas station and convenience store.
The $30 million Kroger shopping center would be built on about 25 acres at the busy intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue, but the land has to be rezoned.
The rezoning has already been endorsed by the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission, which unanimously recommended it in a 10-0 vote during a Sept. 27 meeting.
It now has to be considered by Oak Ridge City Council. Council will consider it on Monday in the first of two monthly votes, or readings.
The proposed site now includes more than 50 homes and duplex units, two hotels, a restaurant, and daycare on Iris Circle, Oak Ridge Turnpike, North Illinois Avenue, Robin Lane, and Ivanhoe, Raleigh, and Robertsville roads.
The Oak Ridge City Council has approved a rezoning for a Weigel’s on South Illinois Avenue in the first of two readings.
The Oak Ridge City Council has approved a rezoning that could allow a Weigel’s on South Illinois Avenue.
Council approved the rezoning in a 6-1 vote during the first of two readings on Monday. It will be considered during a second and final reading on Oct. 10.
The rezoning would allow the proposed gas station and convenience store on a 1.5-acre parcel south of TNBank. The 3,900-square-foot store could open by 2013.
The Oak Ridge City Council will consider a rezoning for a Weigel’s on South Illinois Avenue during a meeting at 7 p.m. today.
The Oak Ridge City Council will consider a property rezoning tonight that could allow a Weigel’s on South Illinois Avenue.
The rezoning would allow the proposed gas station and convenience store on a 1.5-acre parcel south of TNBank. The 3,900-square-foot store could open by 2013.
There are more hurdles to clear before a Weigel’s can be built on South Illinois Avenue, but a city board has recommended that a 1.5-acre parcel south of TNBank be rezoned for the proposed gas station and convenience store.
The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission recommended the rezoning in a 7-3 vote Thursday.
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