Displaying items by tag: environmental quality advisory board

A standing-room-only crowd implored the Oak Ridge Planning Commission on Jan. 15 to preserve a forested tract on the west end of the city for its recreational and cultural values.  At it’s next meeting, the commission backpedaled on its comprehensive plan. Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press

Board backtracks after public protests consideration of development of forested West Oak Ridge parcel and Three Bends area in the east

OAK RIDGE — After intense public pressure, the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission backtracked on tentative planning proposals and recommended preserving two land parcels currently owned by the Department of Energy as parks or natural areas.

The votes, on Feb. 19, concerned a comprehensive plan the Planning Commission is developing as a general blueprint for the future of the entire city.

The Oak Ridge City Council will vote on it next. The plan does not establish formal zoning but rather a long-range guide for the type of development the city would like to occur in different areas. City planning staff had suggested residential development in two DOE-owned areas currently used for outdoor recreation. Those two areas were the Three Bends area on the city’s East Side, which is 3,000 acres along Melton Hill Lake including Clark Center Park. he ED-6 parcel on the city’s west side, which includes 336 acres adjacent to the Westwood subdivision. The latter proposal especially engendered public protest, with citizens packing a meeting room in January to voice their opposition.

The draft comprehensive plan originally suggested keeping most of the Three Bends area a park alongside some clustered development, including the possibility of 10-story apartment buildings. City Manager Randall Heman had discussed a school and residential developments in ED-6. Planning Commission amended the plan after many citizens cited the conservation and recreation values of the areas, and designated both areas for “nature and open space.” The changes came in two separate amendments, both of which passed. 

Image from a 2018 memorandum authored by experts including former Department of Energy employees in Oak Ridge. EMWMF is the present landfill that has a history of failures and is reaching capacity. Ecologists say, after a decade DOE still is not adequately addressing waste acceptance criteria and feasible alternatives.

Public can comment in person Tuesday night in Oak Ridge on proposed DOE waste dump

OAK RIDGE — The Southern Environmental Law Center blistered the Department of Energy in a letter ahead of a May 17 hearing on construction of a toxic-waste landfill that opponents said poses contamination threats to portions of the Clinch River watershed and downstream TVA reservoirs.

The hearing is set for 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, May 17 at the Pollard Technology Conference Center, 210 Badger Ave. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. will be accepted through June 7.

The Department of Energy wants to bury contaminated debris from demolition of Manhattan Project-era complexes and associated legacy toxins from the Oak Ridge Reservation. The drawn-out debate about how best to safely store the materials now focuses on the transparency of the decision process and the health of the Bear Creek watershed and downstream pollution threats to the Clinch River.