Oak Ridge Today

On first vote, Council prohibits animated videos, scrolling messages on electronic signs

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Oak Ridge High School Electronic Sign

The electronic sign at Oak Ridge High School is pictured above. (Photos courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The public debate gained notoriety in December with a dispute over an electronic sign featuring an animated Santa. After months of meetings and hours of discussions, it could be close to being resolved, although the community appears to remain divided.

On Monday night, the Oak Ridge City Council voted 4-3 to approve, in the first of two monthly votes, ordinance changes that would, among other things, prohibit videos or continuously scrolling messages on electronic signs, revisions that would presumably prevent an animated Santa.

The revised ordinance would require messages on the increasingly popular signs to be static and remain displayed for five seconds. The changes, which still have to be approved on second and final reading in September, would also govern signs used for sporting events, set maximum brightness levels, and require the displays to automatically dim through photo cell technology. [Read more…]

Council considers electronic signs, land bank, rental inspections

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Oak Ridge City Council

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider new regulations for electronic signs, expanding the city’s residential rental inspection district, and creating the first-ever land bank in Tennessee.

Oak Ridge officials could prohibit animated electronic signs, expand the city’s residential rental inspection district to include about 1,700 homes, and officially set up an Oak Ridge Land Bank Corp. during a Monday night meeting.

The Oak Ridge City Council will also consider approving contracts with economic development consultant Ray Evans and state lobbyist Bill Nolan, and terminating the lease on the building that once housed the Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic on Badger Road. Now partially empty, the split-level two-story building still houses the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association, and city officials said they haven’t decided what to do with it yet.

The Monday night City Council meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom. [Read more…]

Council to discuss electronic signs, land banks, mall partnership

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Rivers Total Car Care Electronic Sign

The Oak Ridge City Council will discuss proposed changes to the city’s electronic sign ordinance during a Monday evening work session. Pictured above is Toney Stevens of Rivers Total Car Care, who has participated in the discussion.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will discuss a proposed ordinance that would prohibit animated video and scrolling messages on electronic signs.

Council will also discuss economic development options related to a public-private partnership on Oak Ridge Mall properties, and commercial and industrial areas of the city.

During a non-voting work session Monday night, Council will also hear a presentation on land bank legislation. The work session starts at 7 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room at the Central Services Complex on Woodbury Lane. [Read more…]

Planning Commission to discuss electronic signs this evening

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Oak Ridge officials will continue to discuss the the city’s ordinance on electronic signs during a work session this evening.

City officials have been trying to write new regulations for the signs, considering how to govern brightness, display times, and transitions between messages.

[Read more…]

City asked to strike balance between businesses, community over electronic signs

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Misty Robbins at Electronic Signs Public Hearing

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.

[Read more…]

Following business backlash, city schedules public hearing on signs

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Changes to the city’s electronic sign ordinance that were proposed late last year were publicly opposed by several business owners, and they ended up being pulled from a December meeting of the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission.

Now, the city has scheduled a public hearing on the existing sign regulations, which were adopted in 2003, a city press release said.

The changes proposed last year would have governed message display times and brightness of electronic signs. They would have required that electronic sign messages be static and shown for at least 10 seconds, and they would have set a maximum light intensity for the signs. The city staff said drivers and residents have complained about the electronic reader board signs.

[Read more…]

Aldi could open at Woodland Town Center in September

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Aldi Site at Woodland Town Center

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.

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Planning commissioners consider rezonings for grocery, store

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A grocery story and commercial store are being considered at two small sites on South Illinois Avenue and Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The unnamed grocery store could be built on a 2.3-acre parcel at the new Woodland Town Center, where Aubrey’s and Panera Bread recently opened. The store would be across from the two restaurants, on the other side of a new roadway called Woodland Terrace East.

[Read more…]

Planning Commission considers Pizza Inn site plan Thursday

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Pizza Inn Site Work

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.

City Council could fill 43 board, commission positions tonight

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The Oak Ridge City Council is scheduled to fill 43 positions on 17 boards and commissions during a special meeting tonight.

The boards include two of the most high-profile bodies, the Industrial Development Board and Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission.

Others include the Beer Permit Board, Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals, Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Recreation and Parks Advisory Board.

[Read more…]

After business backlash, electronic sign ordinance changes pulled from agenda

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Rivers Total Car Care Electronic Sign

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.

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Council considers Kroger, Weigel’s projects on Monday

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Kroger Marketplace Site Plan

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.

[Read more…]