Displaying items by tag: three bends oak ridge

Clark Center Park swimming area.  Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press

Major effort needed to secure co-funding from local area

The state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026 gives the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation $10 million to establish a state park at Clark Center Park, a 40-acre area owned by the Department of Energy and currently open to the public as a park.

Named for Clark E. Center, the Manhattan Project’s Superintendent of the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant and holder of ID badge #1, this park includes a swimming area on Melton Hill Lake with a sandy beach. It features many picnic tables with grills, a boat ramp, two ball fields, two volleyball nets and a paved surface with basketball hoops. Wooded hiking trails include ones giving access to fishing areas. It also serves as the trailhead to the Gallaher Bend Greenway, which is a separate area.

The caveat

The Tennessee budget states the area can only become a state park if Anderson County, the county in which this area is located, provides $6,250,000 in matching funds before June 30, 2031. Substantial funding is required to replace the aged amenities of the park and provide the level of facilities that meet state park standards while accommodating more visitors.

“Clark Center Park is a hidden gem,” said Virginia Dale, board member and past president of Advocates for the Oak Ridge Reservation (AFORR). The nonprofit group is dedicated to conservation and preservation of the reservation’s unique assets for future generations.

A standing-room-only crowd implored the Oak Ridge Planning Commission on Jan. 15 to preserve a forested tract on the west end of the city for its recreational and cultural values.  At it’s next meeting, the commission backpedaled on its comprehensive plan. Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press

Board backtracks after public protests consideration of development of forested West Oak Ridge parcel and Three Bends area in the east

OAK RIDGE — After intense public pressure, the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission backtracked on tentative planning proposals and recommended preserving two land parcels currently owned by the Department of Energy as parks or natural areas.

The votes, on Feb. 19, concerned a comprehensive plan the Planning Commission is developing as a general blueprint for the future of the entire city.

The Oak Ridge City Council will vote on it next. The plan does not establish formal zoning but rather a long-range guide for the type of development the city would like to occur in different areas. City planning staff had suggested residential development in two DOE-owned areas currently used for outdoor recreation. Those two areas were the Three Bends area on the city’s East Side, which is 3,000 acres along Melton Hill Lake including Clark Center Park. The ED-6 parcel on the city’s west side, which includes 336 acres adjacent to the Westwood subdivision. The latter proposal especially engendered public protest, with citizens packing a meeting room in January to voice their opposition.

The draft comprehensive plan originally suggested keeping most of the Three Bends area a park alongside some clustered development, including the possibility of 10-story apartment buildings. City Manager Randall Heman had discussed a school and residential developments in ED-6. Planning Commission amended the plan after many citizens cited the conservation and recreation values of the areas, and designated both areas for “nature and open space.” The changes came in two separate amendments, both of which passed.