Citizens Oak Ridge
Media Coverage - The Oak Ridger2,400+ sign Crestpointe petitionBy: John Huotari | john.huotari@oakridger.com
That might be enough to force a possible June 5 election on whether the city should borrow money related to the $65 million “power center” being proposed off South Illinois Avenue at Pine Ridge. The group, Citizens Oak Ridge, needs to collect about 2,000 signatures of registered Oak Ridge voters by 5 p.m. Tuesday in order to call the referendum election. They hope to wrap up their signature drive today with a 7 p.m. open house at the Oak Ridge Civic Center. “We need a very substantial surplus,” Schramm said. “There are a lot of signatures that are going to be cut.” It is not yet clear if Crestpointe’s proposed developer and anchor will put their plans on hold to await the outcome of the potential referendum election — or simply move on to another project in another community. Opponents and skeptics of the 60-acre Crestpointe shopping center — at least as proposed — have a variety of objections to the project, which would be anchored by a SuperTarget on Pine Ridge. Their concerns range from the proposed location to the effect on existing small businesses to the alleged “bail-out” of property owner Nat Revis. “I feel like Oak Ridge could do better,” said Ellen Smith, a City Council candidate in the upcoming June 5 municipal election. Petition supporters are also skeptical of the city’s financial analysis of the project, which shows that Crestpointe could generate more than $1 million a year in net new revenues for local schools and governments. But the petition drive is focused on the question of public borrowing to help finance Crestpointe. Although city officials disagree, petition organizers characterize the proposed aid as unwise, inappropriate, and untraditional. The developers of the proposed project — GBT Realty Corp., of Brentwood, Tenn. — have asked Oak Ridge to invest $10.5 million to help cover land-preparation and infrastructure costs at the topographically challenging site. Oak Ridge City Council members have approved a resolution declaring an intent to borrow up to $6 million for Crestpointe, although the actual amount is likely to be half of that, officials say. The city staff has also said that investment would be repaid through new site revenues. One city official who attended Friday’s open house, countering the petition drive, said Crestpointe would provide a higher rate-of-return than “anything else on the table.” “If you can’t name a better investment, then you ought to invest in this one,” Oak Ridge City Councilman Leonard Abbatiello said. “I believe it’s worth taking a chance.” Abbatiello said some people were signing the petition without understanding the implications. “I think there’s a lack of information,” he said. He cited several project controls that could be in place on Crestpointe that were not in place on previous controversial Oak Ridge developments or proposals. Several petition supporters agreed with Abbatiello that there is a “lack of information,” but they did not blame petition volunteers. Instead, they blamed the city, GBT, SuperTarget — and The Oak Ridger. “I think the coverage has been far too positive in its support for this very questionable project,” Oak Ridge resident Ann Munz said. As for what happens next, Oak Ridge Mayor David Bradshaw on Saturday said he will check with GBT to find out if they are still interested in developing Crestpointe — if the petition signatures collected by Tuesday are enough to call for a referendum election. GBT executives say they have an April deadline to close a deal with SuperTarget. “My commitment is to keep the developer with us in this project through a referendum — if that’s what occurs,” the Oak Ridge mayor said. John Huotari can be contacted at (865) 220-5533. http://www.oakridger.com/stories/031207/new_155655637.shtml |
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A preliminary count shows that an Oak Ridge group opposed to public financing of the Crestpointe shopping center has collected 2,402 referendum petition signatures, organizers said Friday.