Council approves rezoning at site where Taco Bell could be built

Posted at 10:47 pm January 8, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A Taco Bell restaurant could be built on the property that now houses Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, at the intersection of Bus Terminal Road and Oak Ridge Turnpike. A rezoning has been requested for the 1.1-acre site by Tacala TN Corporation of Vestavia Hills, Alabama. The rezoning request was approved by Oak Ridge City Council in the first of two monthly readings, or meetings, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2018.

Although they didn’t approve a specific development, the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday approved a rezoning that could allow a Taco Bell restaurant with a drive-through on property that now houses a courthouse at the intersection of Bus Terminal Road and Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Council was approving a rezoning only. Any specific proposal to develop the property would undergo the city’s normal site review.

The 1.1-acre site is now home to Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, which is expected to move soon to a county-owned building that once housed the Daniel Arthur Rehabilitation Center on Emory Valley Road.

The rezoning has been requested by Tacala TN Corporation of Vestavia Hills, Alabama. The rezoning would change the property from an O-2 Office District to a B-2 General Business District. Restaurants are allowed as special exceptions in the O-2 district, as long as there is no drive-through, Oak Ridge Community Development Senior Planner Kelly Duggan said in a December 18 memo to City Manager Mark Watson. B-2 districts allow drive-through restaurants “by right,” Duggan said.

The rezoning was approved 6-0 on Monday in the first of two monthly readings. Oak Ridge Mayor Pro Tem Rick Chinn was absent.

The second and final reading would presumably be at the City Council meeting in February.

The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission had previously recommended the rezoning in a 9-0 vote in December.

In the December memo to Watson, Duggan said the B-2 zoning is in character with the area.

“Oak Ridge Turnpike is a primary commercial corridor for the city,” Duggan said. “Many of (the) properties along the Turnpike already share a commercial zoning designation. In the immediate vicinity, there is a vibrant mix of office/medical uses and commercial uses that provide goods and services for professionals that work in the area. This grouping of compatible uses promotes pedestrian activity and provides more opportunities for social interaction, which should be encouraged.”

The property is currently owned by Vintage Development Corporation of Knoxville. It is across Bus Terminal Road from Security Square and roughly across Oak Ridge Turnpike from medical facilities that include Methodist Medical Center.

The city staff told the Planning Commission in December that it should consider any possible uses allowed in the B-2 zoning district when evaluating the request, and not just the intended drive-through restaurant.

You can see the City Council agenda here.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Anderson-County-General-Sessions-Court-Exterior-Nov-19-2015

Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, is pictured above on Bus Terminal Road in Oak Ridge on Nov. 19, 2015. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Do you appreciate this story or our work in general? If so, please consider a monthly subscription to Oak Ridge Today. See our Subscribe page here. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today.

If you appreciate our work, please consider subscribing. Besides helping us, your subscription will give you access to our premium content.

Most of our stories are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our members—advertisers, subscribers, and sponsors.

But some are premium content, available only to members. Those are in-depth, investigative, or exclusive stories that are available only on Oak Ridge Today. They generally require at least four hours to report, write, and publish.

You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month.

You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers, and they include benefits.

Basic

Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

We also accept donations. You can donate here.

If you prefer to send a check for a subscription or donation, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.