Letter to city council
Robert J Gunter
Greetings All,
I just sent the city council a letter indicating my feelings about the new
building on the OR turnpike. You can send the entire city council a letter at
the following address: 'ccou...@cortn.org' See below:
Greetings All,
I would like to express my concern over the building under construction on the east end of town near the intersection of Florida Ave and the OR turnpike. I am quite frankly surprised that the City would permit a steel building with little or no aesthetic qualities to be built in such a prominent location. I would expect such buildings on wharehouse road, and actually had the impression that such a building would no longer be permitted even there.
Maybe I am jumping the gun, and some façade is being readied for creation. If not, this is a sorry state of affairs. I am familiar with the sign ordinance, and would expect any sign that would meet that criteria would actually be an improvement. That is unless the city will allow them to nail plywood up on a stick.
I was not happy to see all the office buildings being put up on the east end of town, figuring some other sort of business would be more appropriate for such a well travelled location. But seeing this store go up, I can now appreciate that at least the office buildings are pleasing to the eye if nothing else. Is this the sort of development we are to expect in our fair city? If so, perhaps a fact finding trip up to inner city Detroit, or the Bronx would give you all some ideas. For a local place to inspire your architectural interests, I would recommend wharehouse road here in Oak Ridge.
The buildings you approve today, will be there for at least 20 years. You have doomed us to looking at that thing for quite some time to come. Please try to upgrade our city. I know you can, but don’t know if you will.
Very disappointed,
Orenv.
kelly...@comcast.net
Kelly L. Ayers
Library Director
Oliver Springs Public Library
Oliver Springs, TN 37840
kelly...@comcast.net
www.oliverspringscity.com/library
Robert J Gunter
I agree on being positive, but if we just lay down when we see something egregious, we will only get more of the same. Some people care about the city, and some just see an opportunity to make money in the short term without regard to consequence. Whoever approved this does not seem to care, or the city has essentially no zoning laws. The City must be held to account. I would like to know how something like this gets approved. Can I put a trailer out on the Turnpike? Why not? Are there any codes that state a building must meet some aesthetic quality? If not, I want to know this.
Orenv
Ellen Smith <smithellen@comcast.net>
Design review is done by city staff or the Planning Commission, depending on the zoning district. City Council does not review the designs of specific buildings.
I have not seen the design for the Family Dollar store under construction at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Florida Ave., but I do know that the ordinance does not allow a plain steel building in a retail zoning district.
Ellen Smith
Ellen Smith <smithellen@comcast.net>
Brian Yount
| Rob, I applaud your effort to keep things like this in front of folks. I don't see you being negative but looking out for what would be the better improvement for OR. Keep up the comments and/or letters to City Council. /Brian |
--- On Thu, 10/15/09, Robert J Gunter <rjgu...@chpconsultants.com> wrote: |
|
Subject: RE: Letter to city council |
Ellen Smith
text of the message that City of Oak Ridge Community Development
director Kathryn Baldwin sent in reply to Rob Gunter's concerns:
Community Development has received several inquiry's regarding the
Dollar General Store recently.
We have explained that the store is under construction and far from
complete. The approved site plan identifies a brick building on all
four elevations with a stucco finish on the front of the building across
the top. The metal building under construction has a lip along the
footing that will support a finished brick exterior. The site for the
Dollar General also will comply with our landscaping provisions
including street trees, site trees and nuisance/buffer landscaping.
Based on concerns received our inspectors have reiterated with the
contract supervisor that Dollar General has an approved site plan /
construction documents and we will inspect the site according to those
approved plans prior authorizing occupancy.
Julio Ibanez
Ellen, thanks for the clarifications. I'd really prefer better retail
than a dollar general store, but as long as they comply with design
ordinances, I can't complain much.
On Oct 15, 11:59 pm, Ellen Smith <smithel...@comcast.net> wrote:
> Regarding the Family Dollar store that's under construction, here's the
> text of the message that City of Oak Ridge Community Development
> director Kathryn Baldwin sent in reply to Rob Gunter's concerns:
>
> Community Development has received several inquiry's regarding the
> Dollar General Store recently.
>
> We have explained that the store is under construction and far from
> complete. The approved site plan identifies a brick building on all
> four elevations with a stucco finish on the front of the building across
> the top. The metal building under construction has a lip along the
> footing that will support a finished brick exterior. The site for the
> Dollar General also will comply with our landscaping provisions
> including street trees, site trees and nuisance/buffer landscaping.
>
> Based on concerns received our inspectors have reiterated with the
> contract supervisor that Dollar General has an approved site plan /
> construction documents and we will inspect the site according to those
> approved plans prior authorizing occupancy.
>
>
>
> On Thu, 2009-10-15 at 20:39 +0000, Ellen Smith wrote:
> > The link I provided to the design ordinance is to an HTML version.
> > There's also a .doc version downloadable from
> > Ellen Smith
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Ellen Smith <smithel...@comcast.net>" <smithel...@comcast.net>
> > To: sustain-...@googlegroups.com
> > Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 4:34:50 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada
> > Eastern
> > Subject: Re: Letter to city council
>
> > As it happens, the City of Oak Ridge has a fairly stringent design
> > ordinance. See
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Robert J Gunter" <rjgun...@chpconsultants.com>
> > To: sustain-...@googlegroups.com
> > Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 11:49:12 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada
> > Eastern
> > Subject: Letter to city council
>
> > Greetings All,
>
> > I just sent the city council a letter indicating my feelings about the
> > new building on the OR turnpike. You can send the entire city council
>
> - Show quoted text -
Victoria Medaglia
I'd prefer to see the city recruit local shops or, at the least, quality chains that would encourage folks like me to spend their money in Oak Ridge. Dollar General doesn't do that; rather, it continues Oak Ridge's efforts to pull in low-end outlets for cheap consumer goods. I can't say putting a brick shell and a stucco façade will add an "aesthetic." I was thinking about the traffic patterns in Oak Ridge the other day and realized the people who approved this don't drive that end of the turnpike. They won't have to contend with the traffic and eyesore factors.
Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian. -Robert Orben, magician and author (b. 1927)
marshall brown
| I am just happy to see growth coming in and wish more would come. I heard from members of Sonic that it is a Dollar Store. Not quite sure though. |
|
Robert J Gunter
I was hoping for at least a façade and am glad they are doing something to dress it up a bit. We will see the finished product soon enough.
Orenv.
STEPHANY BEANE
Robert J Gunter
I am not as familiar with the possibilities of facebook, but wanted to make sure we had a forum where people could express themselves as anonymously as they wanted, and one where there was some moderation where necessary.
Also, some people are not on facebook.
To date, I have deleted one message that was essentially a commercial, and a handful of spam. Otherwise, people have been very respectful in their postings. My hope is to make this a forum where people who want to get involved, and are willing to perhaps actually do something, have a place where they can have discussions on a professional level without personal attacks and the like. A serious forum for people who care about Oak Ridge, and want to have real discussions that don’t digress into the usual blather.
All are welcome, but only those who go to the bother of asking to be included will be. I can invite people, and maybe other posters can to. I am not familiar with all the permission levels, but it is me as the moderator who will approve all requestors. I have not rejected any requests.
Feel free to contact me if you have anyone in mind to recommend. You can also
refer them to the group, and they can ask online to join.
Here is the link where you can invite members and request membership: http://groups.google.com/group/sustain-oak-ridge
Orenv
From: sustain-...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:sustain-...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of STEPHANY BEANE
Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 2:04 PM
To: sustain-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Letter to city council
might this forum reach more people as a Group or FanPage on Facebook? Facebook would allow many people within the community to become engaged without cluttering up email boxes?
marshall brown
I like this forum, but let me share a success story about Oak Ridge and Facebook. There is a fan page for the exercising senior citizen man with the white beard. This fan page has 1214 fan members. All of who either lived in, live or who have driven through Oak Ridge. Now how many people are on this yahoo group? Here is a link to the fan page... Marshall
|
--- On Fri, 10/16/09, Robert J Gunter <rjgu...@chpconsultants.com> wrote: |
|
orenv
means do I want to avoid any competitive (if that is the right word)
web sites or groups. Rather I see this forum as one of many and try
to link them all so people can participate in making OR a better
place. Probably Monday before I get to it though.
Orenv
On Oct 16, 4:36 pm, marshall brown <marjen...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I like this forum, but let me share a success story about Oak Ridge and Facebook. There is a fan page for the exercising senior citizen man with the white beard. This fan page has 1214 fan members. All of who either lived in, live or who have driven through Oak Ridge. Now how many people are on this yahoo group? Here is a link to the fan page...
>
> Marshall
>
>
>
>
> --- On Fri, 10/16/09, Robert J Gunter <rjgun...@chpconsultants.com> wrote:
lostscotsman
| I would be very opposed to a shift of this forum to facebook. I think there is enough viral fluffy crap on facebook to make it seem less than a serious discussion medium. If you are promoting a band or a new app to waste folks work time, go facebook! For a simple, serious, forum for straight talk keep it with google, and I don't want to play either mafia wars or farmville, thank you very muchly :) Men marched asleep... |
Martin Bauer
Martin Bauer