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. [Read more…]