The Oak Ridge City Council this evening will discuss a fatal police shooting in August and this week’s public meetings about a planned sign at the city entrance on South Illinois Avenue/Pellissippi Parkway (State Route 62).
The Council will meet online in a non-voting work session at 6 p.m. today (Tuesday, February 16).
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The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider a zoning ordinance amendment that could allow a motorsports park.
A motorsports park has been proposed at the Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge. The proposal has both supporters and detractors.
The zoning ordinance amendment being considered by Council at 7 p.m. Monday, February 8, does not endorse that specific proposal. Instead, it would create a new zoning district, the special recreation district, which could be used for large-scale recreation and entertainment developments.
A motorsports park would be one of the permitted uses in the new zoning district, if it is approved. Other permitted uses would be an amphitheater, athletic facility, fairground, amusement park, and zoo.
[Read more…]The City of Oak Ridge is pursuing a historic preservation grant that could be used to study priority historic areas and focus on preservation, the removal of blight, and the expansion of the tax base.
If awarded, the grant from the Tennessee Historical Commission could be worth up to $15,000. It would require a 40 percent local match.
The Oak Ridge City Council will consider accepting the grant, if it is awarded, during its regular meeting on Monday.
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Construction of the new water plant at the city’s water intake on the Clinch River could start in May and be complete in December 2022, according to a proposed schedule presented to Oak Ridge City Council.
The Council on Monday will consider a construction administration contract for the new water plant, which would be south of Bethel Valley Road. It would be able to treat 16 million gallons of water per day.
If approved Monday, the professional engineering services agreement would be with Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. of Knoxville. The contract would be valued at up to about $1.88 million. It would be for construction administration and observation of the construction of the new water treatment plant and a main transmission line.
Approval of the agreement with Jacobs Engineering on Monday could be contingent upon the city’s ability to use Drinking Water State Revolving Funding, which is pending approval, according to the resolution to be considered by Council.
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The Oak Ridge City Council will consider accepting grants for the proposed Oak Ridge Airport on Tuesday.
The airport would be built along Highway 58 on the south side of the Heritage Center, the former K-25 site.
Council will meet online to consider accepting the airport grants in a special session at 6 p.m. Tuesday, January 19. You can watch the meeting here.
[Read more…]The Oak Ridge City Council will meet electronically on Monday, rather than in-person, to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Monday.
Council members will be able to participate by video and audio conferencing. It will be streamed online on the city’s website and broadcast on Comcast Channel 12.
The city asked residents to watch the meeting online or on television because of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s executive orders that limit public gatherings to help prevent the further spread of COVID-19.
“Meeting electronically and limiting in-person access to the meeting is necessary to protect the public health, safety, and welfare in light of COVID-19,” the City of Oak Ridge said in a press release.
[Read more…]Fourteen city employees have had COVID-19 and 32 people have had to quarantine due to potential exposure since the pandemic began in March, and the Oak Ridge City Council will consider a resolution this evening that asks people to wear a mask, wash their hands frequently, avoid crowds, and maintain a distance from people outside their household.
All of the infected municipal employees have recovered, the City of Oak Ridge said in a brief statement in response to questions on Monday. The positive test results have been since March. It wasn’t immediately clear if the infections have been spaced out over time or if they have been clustered in any months.
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson has recommended the precautions, according to a resolution that City Council will consider during a regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, November 9.
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Note: This story was last updated at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 8.
Oak Ridge City Council members Jim Dodson, Derrick Hammond, and Chuck Hope were re-elected Tuesday.
They had one challenger, Edward Jackson Jr.
Oak Ridge Board of Education members Angi Agle and Keys Fillauer were also re-elected.
In the City Council election, Dodson received the most votes, 8,253, in Anderson County. He received the second-most votes in Roane County, 1,499. He had a total of 9,752 votes in the two counties, giving him the most total votes of any candidate and 852 more than the second-place finisher.
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The Oak Ridge City Council last week approved a $175,000 settlement to resolve a dispute between the city and Billy Casper Golf Management over the termination of the agreement to manage Centennial Golf Course.
The city owns the golf course, which is in east Oak Ridge. The city notified Billy Casper Golf Management in October 2017 that it was going to terminate the management agreement “for cause,” Oak Ridge City Attorney Ken Krushenski said in a memo to Council. But Billy Casper Golf Management contested the termination of the agreement, and the company’s attorney claimed that the city owed more than $520,000 in termination fees, Krushenski said.
The two sides negotiated, and the management company accepted the city’s offer of $175,000 to settle all claims, Krushenski said.
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Oak Ridge City Council member Ellen Smith has estimated there could have been between 600 to 700 cases of COVID-19 in the city’s main zip code through October 14.
Oak Ridge’s main zip code is 37830.
The Tennessee Department of Health does not publish the number of COVID-19 cases by city or zip code. It does publish the number of COVID-19 cases by county, and it publishes trend maps by zip code, although it doesn’t give the precise number of cases per zip code.
Smith has analyzed the data and the maps to come up what she calls her best-guess estimate: 600 to 700 cases. That’s a bit more than 2 percent of the city’s population.
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The most recent testing for evidence of COVID-19 in the city’s sewer system documented a significant increase in particles per liter in the east plant, putting that area in a red zone for uncontrolled transmission.
The east plant is the area generally east of New York Avenue and north of Oak Ridge Turnpike.
In the last test, the east plant was up to 2.4 million positive genetic particles per liter. That was an increase of almost 35 times from the prior weekly test result of 69,000 positive genetic particles per liter, according to information provided by Oak Ridge Public Works Director Shira McWaters at a City Council work session on Tuesday evening.
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Friends of the Reverend Derrick Hammond, who is seeking re-election to Oak Ridge City Council, are hosting a drive-by campaign rally outdoors at Jackson Square from 1-3 p.m. today (Saturday, October 10).
Residents are invited to drive by to show their support for Hammond at the event, remaining in their cars to maintain social distance while observing health guidelines during the pandemic, a press release said. Supporters will have the opportunity to volunteer to sign post cards for Hammond, to request a yard sign, and to make a campaign contribution. Music will be provided by The Missing Goats as people drive by.
Hammond, who has served as pastor of Oak Valley Baptist Church since 2014, was appointed to City Council to fill a vacancy in 2018 and elected to the seat in a special election later that year. He is heavily engaged in community activities and organizations, and he has worked tirelessly to keep the faith and nonprofit communities informed about and engaged in community conversations, especially during the pandemic, the press release said. [Read more…]
