Pictured above giving an update about the Oak Ridge Airport project during a Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority board meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018, is Bill Barley, standing, vice president of CHA Consulting, and Mike Reiter of Michael Baker International, seated at center. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
FBI Knoxville on Dowell Springs Road is pictured above in August 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation will continue working if there a partial government shutdown because of a lapse in funding starting at midnight, but they will work without pay.
There is a disagreement involving Congress, President Donald Trump, Republicans, and Democrats over whether to include $5 billion in funding for a wall on the border with Mexico in spending legislation for a number of federal departments. So far, the parties haven’t agreed on a bill that could pass the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate and be signed by Trump.
If an agreement isn’t reached, funding will expire for nine federal departments and a number of agencies. The departments include the U.S. Department of Justice, which includes the FBI. The FBI field office in Knoxville covers Anderson, Campbell, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, Roane, Scott, and Union counties, among others. [Read more…]
The main parking lot and main entrance to the former American Museum of Science and Energy on South Tulane Avenue is pictured above on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission unanimously approved a rezoning and master plan on Thursday that will allow apartments on the former American Museum of Science and Energy property on South Tulane Avenue.
The approval, which passed on a unanimous voice vote, functions as a recommendation to the Oak Ridge City Council, which could consider the project in January. Council could consider the rezoning and master plan in two monthly meetings, or readings.
The apartment complex could include 217 units in seven three-story buildings on the northern side of the former AMSE site. They would be built on about 10 acres where the former museum building and its big parking lot are now, just south of the Oak Ridge Municipal Building.
AMSE has moved across the street to Main Street Oak Ridge, the roughly 58-acre redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall. [Read more…]
The former American Museum of Science and Energy building on South Tulane Avenue was recently vandalized, and it will cost the City of Oak Ridge several thousand dollars to re-secure the building, authorities said Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge/Oak Ridge Police Department)
The former American Museum of Science and Energy building on South Tulane Avenue was recently vandalized, and it will cost the City of Oak Ridge several thousand dollars to re-secure the building, authorities said Thursday.
The vandalism was reported at about 9:19 p.m. Tuesday, when a person saw a broken window at the former AMSE, the Oak Ridge Police Department said.
“When officers arrived, they discovered the interior and exterior of the vacant building, which is owned by the City of Oak Ridge government, had been damaged during a recent break-in,” the ORPD said. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission will consider a rezoning and planned unit development on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018, that would allow apartments to be built on the former American Museum of Science and Energy property on South Tulane Avenue.
Oak Ridge officials will consider a proposal on Thursday that would allow apartments to be built on the former American Museum of Science and Energy property on South Tulane Avenue.
Oak Ridge Today reported in November that the apartment complex could include 217 units in seven three-story buildings on the northern side of the former AMSE site. They would be built on about 10 acres where the former museum building and its big parking lot are now, just south of the Oak Ridge Municipal Building.
AMSE has moved across the street to Main Street Oak Ridge, the roughly 58-acre redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall.
The rezoning and planned unit development, or PUD, have been requested by TN Oak Ridge Illinois LLC and Mainstreet Capital Partners LLC. A total of roughly 11 acres would be included in the rezoning, including about 10 acres for the PUD. [Read more…]
Most of Main Street Oak Ridge is pictured above in this proposed plan from Nov. 29, 2018.
The developer of Main Street Oak Ridge has asked for changes or the removal of some conditions recommended by city officials as they consider possible changes to the master plan for the 58-acre project.
The developer, TN Oak Ridge Rutgers LLC, said last week that it will not be able to comply with a request from the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission to include a significant central gathering space as part of Phase III. It has asked to remove language calling for a commitment to create a mixed-use center along Wilson Street. It also wants to remove language calling for significant multi-family residential units as part of the potential mixed-use center along Wilson Street.
TN Oak Ridge Rutgers, which is affiliated with RealtyLink of Greenville, South Carolina, was responding to 10 conditions recommended by the Planning Commission when it approved a revised master plan in a split 5-4 vote during a special meeting on Wednesday, December 5.
What happens next will be up to Oak Ridge City Council, which will consider the proposed revisions during a special meeting Tuesday evening.
One revision that initially caused concern appears to have been accepted, at least so far. That’s the closure of the access road from Rutgers Avenue to the roundabout at Main Street Oak Ridge. That access road would be removed to allow four new stores to be built between PetSmart, a new store, and JCPenney, an anchor store remaining from the former Oak Ridge Mall. The conditions recommended by Planning Commission did not mention the access road. It’s not clear what Council’s position will be. [Read more…]
The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above in June 2012. (Photo courtesy NNSA)
A new class of employees at the Y-12 National Security Complex is being evaluated for possible inclusion in a worker compensation program that involves certain illnesses and work at sites affiliated with the U.S. Department of Energy.
The class of employees being evaluated now would have worked at Y-12 between January 1, 1958, through December 31, 1976, and they would have had an aggregate total of at least 250 work days, according to a notice published in the Federal Register on Friday. The class could change, however, based upon the evaluation.
The decision to evaluate the petition for the Y-12 employees was announced by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
It’s not clear when the petition was filed, who filed it, or how long the evaluation might take. Oak Ridge Today has requested more information from the CDC. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge officials approved a plan in November and December 2018 that will allow a new residential development on more than 100 acres off Edgemoor Road in east Oak Ridge. This is the view looking toward the part of the development that will be called Harbour Pointe A and Harbour Pointe B on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
In its second and final vote, the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday approved a plan that will allow a new residential development on more than 100 acres off Edgemoor Road in east Oak Ridge.
It’s a significant change to what had originally been expected on the property in a master plan adopted in 2009. That was for a planned unit development called Centennial Village.
The new development, which required changes to the Centennial Village master plan, will be called Harbour Pointe. It could include 310 lots on 117 acres. Of the lots, 186 could be single-family and 124 could be multi-family.
The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission unanimously approved re-zonings and a preliminary master plan for Harbour Pointe, subject to certain conditions, during a special meeting on Monday, November 5. The Oak Ridge City Council then unanimously approved them, with the Planning Commission conditions included, on Monday, November 12. [Read more…]
Most of Main Street Oak Ridge is pictured above in this proposed plan from Nov. 29, 2018.
The vote on the proposed revisions to the plan for Main Street Oak Ridge has been rescheduled to next week.
The Oak Ridge City Council had been scheduled to consider the proposed revisions to the plan during a regular meeting on Monday, December 10.
But there were apparently issues related to the weather in the mountains. The developer, RealtyLink, is based in Greenville, South Carolina, and the company had reportedly planned to attend the Monday night City Council meeting.
Council could now consider the proposed revisions to the Main Street plan during a special meeting on Tuesday, December 18. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission and City Council discuss the revised plan for Main Street Oak Ridge during a non-voting joint work session in the Municipal Building on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Most of Main Street Oak Ridge is pictured above in this proposed plan from November 2018.
The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission agreed, in a split vote Wednesday, to give conditional approval to a revised plan for the next phase of Main Street Oak Ridge.
The revised plan has been sent to Oak Ridge City Council, with the 10 conditions included, for its consideration on Monday night. Council has the final say and can accept or reject the Planning Commission’s recommendation, which was approved in a 5-4 vote, or make its own decision.
There has been some opposition to the revised plan because it would eliminate planned multi-family residential units from an area near JCPenney and close the access road from Rutgers Avenue to the roundabout at Main Street Oak Ridge. The mixed-use development that many in the community say they want could be included in a future phase along Wilson Street.
It’s not clear if the Oak Ridge City Council will agree with either the revised plan or the conditions attached to it by Planning Commission. Council members seemed split over the revised plan at a joint work session featuring the Planning Commission and City Council in November. Three of the seven Council members expressed concerns, and three seemed ready to proceed. [Read more…]
The high school football season is over, and renovation work started at Blankenship Field in November 2018. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)
A limited amount of sod from Blankenship Field will be available to football fans during a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday afternoon.
Renovations have started at the field, which will be converted from grass to synthetic turf, possibly by the end of April.
The ceremonial groundbreaking will be hosted by the City of Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Schools, and it is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Friday, December 7.
“Football fans will be given the opportunity to take home a piece of sod from the field beginning at 3:30 p.m. Friday,” a press release said. A limited amount of sod will be available at no cost on a first-come, first-served basis. [Read more…]
