Oak Ridge Today

ETCompetes! Speaker Series: Secrets of successful communities

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In the ever-changing world of economic development, it is imperative that communities in East Tennessee recognize the paradigm shift that is happening nationally in regards to enhanced community character, retail, real estate, and economic changes. In an effort to foster change and growth all around our beautiful region, ETCompetes!—in conjunction with their partners East Tennessee Quality Growth, NAI, US Bank, and University of Tennessee School of Landscape Architecture—are sponsoring two workshops featuring nationally recognized speaker, Ed McMahon, Urban Land Institute senior resident fellow.

McMahon spent 14 years as the vice president and director of land use planning for the Conservation Fund in Arlington, Va., where he helped protect more than five million acres of land that has historic or natural significance. McMahon is also the cofounder and former president of Scenic America, a national nonprofit organization devoted to protecting America’s scenic landscapes. [Read more…]

Union County mayor wants to withdraw from PlanET

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PlanET Forum Oak Ridge

Regional leaders rank community issues during a recent PlanET forum at the Flatwater Grill in Oak Ridge.

Union County Mayor Micheal Williams wants the county to withdraw from a regional planning organization that recently held a series of public forums and drew some opposition from property rights advocates, including in Oak Ridge and Anderson County.

Named PlanET, the five-county organization includes Anderson, Blount, Loudon, Knox, and Union counties. Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan is chair of its board of mayors.

“Union County is a rural county and is much smaller, as far as demographics are concerned, than the other counties which make up PlanET,” Williams wrote in a May 1 letter to the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization. “I feel that Union County would be better served if we promote ourselves as an individual county instead of grouping with the larger ones and being left behind.”

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