Atomic City Talk

The least he could have done is wait until he broke ground to insult the citizens.

I think you can count on no abatements being approved after the fact. It would have had to have been part of the discussion.

Maybe it is not after the fact. Maybe it was part of the deal but we just did not know about it. Remember National Fitness.

I have some issues.

First, this guy manages to get property at "residential" prices. Here he scoops up some land and decides to ask to have it turned "commercial". So there's the first "big buck deal".

Now he is wanting "tax abatement"? Hmmmm....another "big buck deal".

Sure, when I buy a car, I look for a good deal and try to save some money. However, I'm not using the car to earn a profit and then parade it around town.

If we want our city to bring in more tax dollars to better our schools and community, we don't need to keep pushing them out, we need to STOP GIVING it away. Don't tell me that the businesses aren't going to want to move here because they can't get a deal. If we encourage new businesses to come in, it will come back full circle. But to give someone a discounted rate on property and then discount their taxes to encourage them to build, it all needs to be refigured.

Why isn't the Chamber encouraging new businesses to scoop up the vacant commercial properties (including the "mall") and build, build, build? Do you know how many hotels we could have there? I still say, flatten it and build a water park.

National Fitness did not get the tax abatement, the only abatement was for the commercial center in front of National Fitness which was still to be built at the time of the decision. The Holiday Inn Express decision has been made and abatements are not part of it.

Come on Blowin Smoke, why are you so opposed to a business turning a profit. The guy bought the land at "residential" prices, because that was the price advertised. Should there be two price levels?

"Why isn't the Chamber encouraging new businesses to scoop up the vacant commercial properties (including the "mall") and build, build, build?"

The Chamber is neither magic nor evil. They don't own the mall property, Arnsdorff does. It is kinda up to him to allow someone to come in and "scoop up" his property.

I can see the argument made by the Woodland residents. If I lived in Woodland I would be putting up the same fight. However, whether we like it or not, time marches on. Many parts of Woodland are decaying, like many older parts of Oak Ridge. I would much rather have a hotel in Woodland than more flat top shacks falling down. Time has come to make some changes in that area. It is adjacent to a primary business area after all.

BS.....You had just as much opportunity to purchase the three residential properties as did the hotel developer. I'm sure he bought them one property at a time, and he made the best offer. That's the American way!

It would be nice if the city, or in this instance the hotel developer, could just scoop up property when he(they) decided that it was not being productive enough in its current use.......or, it would be nice unless it were your property they decided to scoop up! That is not the American way.

Ernestine......Parker Hardy does not have any authority to make back room deals on abatements. It is his job to market development opportunities in Oak Ridge, and as part of that process I'm sure he tells potential developers of the city's abatement policy, but it is up to the city (or the IDB) to determine if a certain project qualifies for an abatement. Abatements are an economic development tool used across the country to attract new businesses to a community. Developer do not get anything for free.......just reduced rates over a certain period of time. Getting one-half of the increased value in property taxes is better than getting one-half of nothing!

Although in this particular case, I do not think that the hotel should qualify for an abatement because it has not been presented as part of the re-zoning debate. However, in general I think that abatements are a good thing. How many developers and/or companies have relocated to Oak Ridge in recent years without an abatement? And of the developers/companies that have relocated and/or expanded due to abatements, how much additional revenue is the city bringing in? I would say it is a significant amount.......especially in light of our declining sales tax. If we would stop running retail developers over the Solway Bridge, we might not need tax abatements!

I did some checking, and there was no deal beforehand. An application for a tax abatement was picked up, but it's my understanding that it will NOT be turned in.

The way I see it, we are minus three potential Crack Houses in Woodland.

"The way I see it, we are minus three potential Crack Houses in Woodland."

That potential is always there in Oak Ridge. I wish we would run the crack dealers out of town instead of the developers!