Citizens Oak Ridge

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Media Coverage - The Oak Ridger

3,000 signatures and more coming

By: John Huotari | john.huotari@oakridger.com
Story last updated at 12:20 am on 3/13/2007

Scott Fraker/Staff (The Oak Ridger) Citizens Oak Ridge President Bill Schramm delivers the first group of petition signatures to Oak Ridge City Clerk Jackie Bernard Monday afternoon.

Crestpointe petition organizers appear to be well on their way to forcing a June 5 referendum election on whether the city should help finance the $65 million retail project on Pine Ridge.
On Monday, the organizers delivered to Oak Ridge City Clerk Jackie Bernard what they said were 476 petition pages containing 3,172 signatures, significantly more than they might need.
However, they expect a significant number of the signatures to be declared ineligible for a variety of reasons.

In order to call the election, the petitioners, organized as Citizens Oak Ridge, need about 2,000 signatures of registered Oak Ridge voters by 5 p.m. today.

Monday's delivery was the first installment of petition signatures, said Bill Schramm, Citizens Oak Ridge president. The group was still collecting signatures through Monday night, and they planned to deliver the second installment of petition pages this afternoon, Schramm said.
The referendum for which they are campaigning would allow Oak Ridge residents to vote on whether the city should borrow up to $6 million in general obligation bonds to help cover Crestpointe site-preparation and infrastructure costs.

The total public aid package, including the borrowed money, would be $10.5 million. The city's investment would be repaid through new site revenues, officials have said.

But petition organizers said they object to, among other things, the potential public financing of a private retail development.

"Why should taxpayers invest their money in this venture?" Citizens Oak Ridge volunteer Raj Jain asked rhetorically.

Petition organizers said more than 200 volunteers have spent hours collecting signatures, mostly by going door-to-door to Oak Ridge homes.

"People have worked hard to have a voice on this expenditure," Schramm said. "There is a widespread sense that a deal like this requires a lot more time and scrutiny if there is to be city funding in the project."

Jain, who helped deliver the petitions on Monday, said he has had a "fairly positive" reaction from people he has approached, with about 90 percent of them signing the petitions.

Still up in the air is whether the Crestpointe developer and anchor, SuperTarget, will await the results of a referendum election — or move to another project in another community.

Oak Ridge City Manager Jim O'Connor said he talked to the proposed developer on Monday. The developer, GBT Realty Corp., of Brentwood, will have to talk to the proposed anchor, SuperTarget, O'Connor said.

GBT executives have said they have an April deadline to close a deal with SuperTarget.
O'Connor said he hopes to know more by March 19, which is when Oak Ridge City Council members are scheduled to consider adopting a second Crestpointe resolution.

"We're proceeding forward as though it's going to be done," O'Connor said. "If not, we stop and look at other alternatives. We have not identified any of those at this point."

John Huotari can be contacted at (865) 220-5533.

http://www.oakridger.com/stories/031307/new_155858260.shtml