From another time, another place: "Can't we all just get along?"
Will flight path of new land-use process stay on 'nice' course?
By Frank Munger, Knoxville News-Sentinel senior writer
September 3, 2001
From another time, another place: "Can't we all just get along?"
That seemed to be a recurring message last week when the U.S. Department of Energy unveiled its latest attempt at land-use planning for the 34,000-acre Oak Ridge reservation.
The question is rhetorical, of course, but cynics (or realists) might offer this response, "Probably not, but it's a nice thought."
Most folks who care are already aware of the controversy surrounding the DOE reservation.
Besides the government's multibillion dollar research and production facilities already in place or under construction, the Oak Ridge reservation includes vast tracts of forest and fields, offering value and opportunity. It's a bountiful resource. Thus, an age-old debate persists -- development vs. preservation.
Within the past year that debate occasionally got heated, pitting local businessmen and developers against conservationists and environmental researchers. City officials, hunters and many other parties have their interests, too.
DOE's new process for charting future land use is to be managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and will include a 20-member focus group to provide input and recommendations. The advisory panel is diverse, for sure, with plenty of folks from the environmental and business perspectives.
But what happens when the Chamber of Commerce butts heads with The Nature Conservancy?
Most of the folks who participated in ceremonies last week sounded optimistic that sharing thoughts and information will lead to mutually satisfactory decisions on land use.
We'll see.
It's not yet clear what the agenda will be when the land-use discussions begin in earnest.
For instance, I asked Leah Dever, DOE's Oak Ridge manager, if previous DOE decisions -- including the 1999 establishment of the 3,000-acre Three Bend Scenic and Wildlife Refuge -- will be reconsidered and possibly rescinded.
"We're going to, of course, look at all those previous decisions through this process. But the department was fairly clear on Three Bend about a year or year and a half ago."
When pressed if that meant DOE would reconsider that decision, Dever demurred. "I don't know what you mean by reconsideration," she replied.
Then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson's decision to protect the riverfront property on the Oak Ridge reservation didn't sit well with some members of the local business community who thought the area was perfectly suited for high-end residential development.
There have been private discussions about trying to free the property -- or at least a portion of it -- for some housing projects.
Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., intervened in the question to Dever about the Three Bends Area and said, "One of my assumptions is that no people in good faith who've participated in this process are going to try to rescind any of those decisions that clearly were good stewardship decisions. But, then, another assumption I make is that nobody who participates in this process is going to hold up the transfer of land in our industrial parks that needs to be conveyed in order for us to market our assets. So my assumption is people won't be unreasonable from either side, from either position."
Wamp, who got involved in the land-use controversy earlier this year, is perceived to be staunchly on the side of the business community. But he played a moderator's role at the land-use press conference.
"We want progress. We want new missions. We want new development. We want housing for our citizens," Wamp said. "But I'll tell you. The public spaces and the preserved areas on this reservation are the envy of many parts of this country ... and we should protect that."
Senior writer Frank Munger can be reached at 482-9213 or by e-mail at twig1@knoxnews.infi.net.
Copyright 2001, KnoxNews. All Rights Reserved.