The Oak Ridge City Council will discuss housing and capital infrastructure planning during a retreat on Saturday, October 24. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The Oak Ridge City Council will discuss housing and capital infrastructure planning during a retreat on Saturday, October 24.
The retreat is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. October 24 at the MCLinc Conference Facility at Heritage Center, 200 Heritage Boulevard. That’s 2010 Highway 58, Building K-1000.
Christina Kloker Younger of C.K. Young Creative Planning Systems will help lead the meeting, a notice said.
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Philip W Nipper says
Not knowing the agenda, I can only hope that the code enforcement division of community development is discussed. In my view, having a code enforcement policy that is mainly complaint driven vice having more robust enforcement techniques in place is a policy that is akin to one step forward, two steps back. It won’t make a real difference in dealing with some of our housing issues in the city. The “Not in my Town” campaign has been somewhat successful and the Land Bank is a good idea and continues to make progress in dealing with properties. However, I would like to see additional inspectors conducting additional inspections throughout the city. Being more proactive and less reactive would, in my view, make a real difference towards reducing blighted properties. This is not to say that our code enforcement employees are deficient. On the contrary, I have found that all the inspectors and staff within code enforcement / community development are dedicated to the mission and do the best they can with the resources at hand. Let’s give them more!
Ellen Smith says
Thanks for making constructive comments, Philip.
Joseph Lee says
Mr. Nipper, Well said and I agree completely. The community development department does a fine job with what they have to work with. However, as we see additional growth in Oak Ridge on the horizon a few more building inspectors may be needed to prevent any loss of momentum or progress in the advances that have made with our housing stock. We can fix our housing issues if we remain focused on them. Thank you.