Oak Ridge North City Council plans Robinson Road realignment traffic route, terminates city's first sales tax preservation agreement

Oak Ridge North City Manager Heather Neeley said the first phase of Robinson Road traffic control is currently being reviewed by project engineers with RPS Group during a regular Oak Ridge North City Council meeting on Nov. 8.

The phase one traffic pattern consists of rerouting Robinson Road traffic behind the Oak Ridge North Community Center to intersect with Hanna Road. The council said some road work may be needed in order to create a wider turn for larger vehicles.

Neeley said additional details regarding the phase one route will be shared during a December city council meeting.

As previously reported by Community Impact Newspaper, the Robinson Road realignment project is expected to go to bid in January 2023. The Robinson project will take about 18 months to build after the bidding process, putting the completion date around May 2024.

The Robinson realignment and update is Oak Ridge North’s first step to build the upcoming Plaza District, a commercial zone that will be located north and south of the road.

City terminates first sales tax preservation agreement

City council voted to terminate the city’s first sales tax preservation agreement with The Woodlands-based Preva Health and Spring Pines LLC at 26620 I-45 N., Oak Ridge North.

According to Neeley, since the time the agreement was signed the business has been behind on payments and is now considered in default on their STP agreement.

One of the building owners, Daniel Spearman, said during the Nov. 8 meeting that Preva Health no longer occupies the space as they are roughly $250,000 behind in rent payments to Spring Pines LLC.

Oak Ridge North first approved its first sales tax preservation agreement with the business in the city’s B-2 Secondary and Highway Business District in May 2020, months after approving a zoning amendment in the district to facilitate the revenue-generating STP program there.

Ben Thompson contributed to this report.