Thursday’s Planning Commission discussion of ALDI dealt with an almost completely different collection of issues…
Since (as noted in the previous post) this property is already zoned for this use, the planning commission’s focus is on (1) meeting the extensive design criteria in the zoning ordinance and (2) finding ways to ensure that the development is [...]
Posts from ‘June, 2007’
Yet more on ALDI (and what people don’t want in their backyards)
More on ALDI (also Florida Ave. and traffic)
ALDI (which I discussed in this earlier blog post) was discussed at two city board meetings that I attended this week. (The Oak Ridger has reported on the second of these meetings, Thursday’s Planning Commission work session.) I’ve learned a lot more about the proposal and the issues involved in its siting.
I have learned that [...]
Hotel proposal for Woodland (and the South Illinois corridor)
An important local issue that was largely overlooked in the brouhaha over Crestpointe is the controversy over the future of the Woodland neighborhood.
After City Council rejected (appropriately, I think) a proposal for rezoning to allow construction of a 5-story Holiday Inn Express hotel on a pair of residential lots between Potomac Circle and South Illinois [...]
New grocery store on the east side?
An article in today’s newspaper reports that a company called ALDI, Inc. wants to build a grocery store on Oak Ridge Turnpike.
ALDI does not currently have any locations in the Knoxville metro area, but the ALDI company website and the Wikipedia article on ALDI have a lot of information about this business.
It appears to be [...]
Interactive greenways
Oak Ridge’s greenways network benefits from a small, but incredibly dedicated, group of volunteers. One of these is Tom Dunigan, who has unveiled a spiffy Google Maps-based interactive online guide to the Oak Ridge Greenways trails. (Check out the map! Click on a red pin to open a popup window with a link to a [...]
Reflections after the election
The votes are in (full returns are on the Election Commission website) and I’m elected to City Council. The news media have, of course, reported the story (see The Oak Ridger and the News Sentinel) and I’m tickled to see that some fellow bloggers have offered their enthusiastic congratulations (see The Crone Speaks), positive thoughts [...]
Election Day in Oak Ridge
It’s almost over… The polls open in less than 2 hours. (Voting hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.) About 3000 people have already voted early.
This election is getting more attention than usual for an Oak Ridge City election. The Crestpointe referendum was the top story on the front page of yesterday’s News Sentinel: “Bond [...]
Fertilizer for the “grassroots”
Pre-election financial disclosure reports were due Thursday, and the local newspaper has reported cash receipts (including loans) for each candidate and referendum campaign. Because loans are treated as “receipts” and neither in-kind contributions (donations of goods or services; sometimes these donations are large) nor expenditures are included in the article, the numbers in the article [...]
The use of dedicated school money in the City’s Crestpointe funding scheme would be a large step down a dangerous and irresponsible path
Over on the Oak Ridger online forums, there’s been some discussion of the City’s apparent intention to get part of the proposed funding for the Crestpointe (“Target”) shopping center from money collected for the high school rebuild project. (As I explained in an earlier post here, in discussion with Mr. Steve Jenkins of the city [...]