Oak Ridge council grants sidewalk waiver to protect six historic oaks at River Ridge Farm

The Town of Oak Ridge Council voted Nov. 6 to grant a waiver of the sidewalk requirement for the River Ridge Farm subdivision after concluding that installing a sidewalk along Linville Road would risk damage to six historic oak trees and that the waiver would provide equal or better performance for pedestrian connectivity.

At a hearing, the applicant’s attorney, Beau Rodenboe, said the four-lot subdivision fronts Linville Road and that installing a sidewalk there would “require that the existing historic oak trees be damaged or killed,” citing an arborist report submitted with the application. Rodenboe said the property’s designation in the town’s 2016 future land use plan places it in the “town core transition zone,” where sidewalks are not required, and proposed crosswalk connections to an existing sidewalk on the opposite side of Linville Road as an alternative.

Council members discussed legal and practical considerations, including which future land use plan the ordinance should reference, the feasibility of a crosswalk (which would require an application to the North Carolina Department of Transportation), and whether an easement should be secured for future sidewalk installation if trees die or the historic house are removed. Councilmember Stone said specific findings of hardship and “equal or better performance” existed because of the trees and the existing sidewalk across the street. The council’s motion to find those facts and grant the waiver passed by voice vote.

Town Attorney Michael Thomas and planning staff clarified the council must articulate factual findings to support a waiver under section 38-31 of the development ordinance. Council members and staff noted the action applies to this specific parcel and is not an automatic precedent for other properties.

After the vote, a councilmember asked staff and the Planning & Zoning Board to proceed under the 2016 future land use plan for other applications in the transition zone and to initiate the formal process to amend section 30‑8‑62 of the development ordinance to replace the 2003 future land use plan reference with the 2016 plan; staff indicated that change would require a separate public hearing and formal adoption process.

The council did not require the applicant to install a sidewalk as a condition of approval. Instead, members noted alternatives such as pursuing a crosswalk and discussed potential conditional easements for future sidewalk installation as a separate, negotiable measure.

Ending: The waiver was granted for this parcel; council directed staff to begin the formal procedure to update the ordinance reference to the 2016 future land use plan, which would return to the public hearing process before any ordinance change becomes effective.