Oak Ridge North approves business park for Robinson Road

Development of a business park that will include industrial, office and retail elements on Robinson Road was approved by Oak Ridge North City Council at an April 25 meeting.

The location is within the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction, and it will be annexed into the city, according to meeting materials. The agreement includes a Chapter 380 agreement, which means the developer will run utilities at its own expense and be reimbursed through sales tax generation and impact fees. The developer can be reimbursed for up to $400,000 in construction costs over a seven-year period from a percentage of sales tax generated by the site, according to meeting materials.

Mayor Paul Bond said at the meeting, which is available as an audio recording on the city's document website, the plan presented by Newman Development Corp. was consistent with previous discussions.

"Everything seems to be in line with what we've discussed all along," Bond said.

The development will take place on 7.7 acres off Robinson Road, and according to previous reporting by Community Impact Newspaper will include an 11,000-square-foot retail building facing Robinson Road. The entire project will encompass 126,000 square feet, according to the meeting agenda.

The City Council also approved using $18,000 with funds budgeted by the Oak Ridge North Economic Development Corp. for a slide replacement at Marilyn Edgar Park.

Council discussed whether it could reimburse the funds with money from American Rescue Plan Act funds, but approved the EDC funds at the April 25 meeting.

The city has been approved for $790,000 in ARPA funds that must be spent by 2023. City officials said there is about $30,000 left from the first installment of ARPA funds, and the second installment will be around $381,000.