Oak Ridge’s plans lay out how to meet predicted future growth
With neighborhoods on both the east and west sides of Oak Ridge growing, Oak Ridge City Council is looking at how best to prepare for that growth in the next few years.
The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission, a city board, presented City Council with the Capital Improvement Program Monday, March 13 at the Oak Ridge Municipal Building, a plan laying out future spending on infrastructure through 2029.
City Council did not approve them at the meeting but just received them. Mayor Pro Tem Jim Dodson explained in an interview that vote will occur at a future meeting and city Communications Specialist Lauren Gray said it would inform the future budget on which Council will vote in June. Still, the plan lays out some priorities for the city about future projects.
The plan focuses in on what Planning Commission chairman H. Stephen Whitson called “known growth areas.” This included some infrastructure particularly schools meant to serve the western side of the city, including The Preserve, formerly Rarity Ridge on the city’s Roane County side. But it also included some work on the city’s eastern side, particularly adding a new fire station to serve the Harbour Pointe subdivision in Southeast Oak Ridge.
School expenses were a top priority, with renovations to Linden Elementary School listed as having top importance. Linden renovations are listed as totaling $15,659,000. Of medium priority is a new school for west Oak Ridge, estimated to cost a total of $29,035,000 between 2024 and 2025. The new school is intended to keep up with the city’s western side, much of it in Roane County in neighborhoods like The Preserve.
A new wastewater treatment plant for the west end of town is also high priority as per the CIP, totaling $1,500,000.
A new fire station for Southeast Oak Ridge in the Centennial Village area is also a top priority as is reconstruction of the existing fire station No. 2 also in East Oak Ridge. The new fire station is estimated at $5,650,000 while the existing fire station will be $6,130,000 over the coming years through 2029.
Another set of items listed as top priorities are transportation, pedestrian and bicycle improvements totaling $5,555,000.
Also on the Roane County side the city is working on a small airport, and the plan lays out sources of funding. The total estimated cost to be spent in 2024 and 2025 is $52,645,000.
Perhaps regionally among the most controversial and debated topics in the Oak Ridge Outdoor Pool, with the city considering renovating the pool and polling the public on how to do it. It’s listed under the maintenance section of the CIP, totaling $4,875,000.
“We have issued a Request for Qualifications for design/engineering. We are in the process of evaluating those submittals and selecting a consultant to perform those services. We expect to take a resolution for a contract to City Council soon. Once we have a consultant under contract the project should begin moving more quickly,” Gray told The Courier News regarding that project’s status.
The maintenance section also includes many other basic priorities like improvements to roads and handicap accessibility.
The full CIP is available at oakridgetn.gov as a link in the March 13 agenda.