OAK RIDGE — For this city’s 10th mayor since it was incorporated, his top goal is “the successful development of Main Street Oak Ridge,” the name of the proposed $80 million revamp of the old Oak Ridge Mall property.
Mayor Warren Gooch, who described himself as akin to the “chairman of the board of directors for the city,” gave his overview of city priorities during Tuesday’s “Lunch with the League” program of the Oak Ridge League of Women Voters.
Gooch called the current mall property “a black hole in the center of our city that we have been trying to fill for the last 20 years.”
He predicted the plan by Charlotte, N.C., developer Crosland Southeast for the property will be “the catalyst for a dynamic and revitalized downtown,” saying it will “enhance the image of our city for years to come.”
Gooch said groundbreaking and demolition of the old mall’s common areas is “on schedule to begin by June 30. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed.”
Other upbeat developments, he said, include the decision by CVMR Corp. to locate its world headquarters in Oak Ridge, which he said will bring some 600 jobs and a $300 million investment. He predicted that CVMR-USA will be an “anchor in our reindustrialization efforts; a magnet for other companies seeking to relocate in close proximity to CVMR.”
Gooch called the creation of the Manhattan Project National Park and Oak Ridge’s part in that new park “a potential gold mine for heritage tourism.” That new park, signed into law last December, designates historically significant landmarks in Oak Ridge, Hanford, Wa., and Los Alamos, N.M., as parts of the park, created to recognize the project to build the world’s first atomic bomb.
Passage of the enabling legislation “has added urgency to our efforts to have the park headquarters located in Oak Ridge,” he said, adding that competition for that designation is “intense.”
City challenges, he told league members, including the completion of the review of turnover, morale and policies of the Oak Ridge Police Department “as soon as it is reasonably possible to do so.”
Adopting a new property tax rate will also be a challenge, he said, especially since the latest Anderson County reappraisal showed a decline in property values and the Roane County reappraisal process isn’t finished.
Gooch said a survey of 259 residents showed that the lack of affordable housing and the need to lure young families to Oak Ridge, along with development of Main Street Oak Ridge, as residents’ top priorities.
Leave a Reply