“There is no development actively proposed for this property,” Williams said. She said the city needed, however, to do “in-depth analysis” of any federally owned property it acquired, which she said the principles reflected.

The draft principles the city planning staff presented to the Planning Commission were as follows:

1. The plan should be a model for development and incorporate conservation principles.

2. The plan must respect and protect adjacent neighborhoods.

3. The plan must respect and protect the natural beauty and ecological value of Lambert Quarry and the BORCE, and should enhance connectivity to the BORCE for nearby neighborhoods as well as the general public.

4. The plan will evaluate an appropriate zoning designation(s) for the site.

5. The plan must analyze land use and infrastructure needs for the site and will include housing as an acknowledgment of the City’s need for additional housing, as well as quality commercial/mixed-use development to support the west end.

6. The plan should consider housing for different sectors of our population rather than a single segment of the population.

7. The plan should place an emphasis on community input from all areas and segments of the community including the surrounding neighborhood as well as those who desire to locate in Oak Ridge who have been unable to locate housing.

8. The plan should follow the proposed Comprehensive Land Use Plan

9. The plan should follow Blueprint Values and Goals: a. Appreciation, expansion and access to our natural assets. b. Growing our population in an economically sustainable way. c. Enhancing our image and quality of place d. Improve connectivity and mobility.”

Citizens who spoke at the meeting stressed the importance of keeping the area preserved in its current state, with several saying they believed that the city should only use the first three of these principles and leave out the rest of them. Still others stressed that the city had other areas to develop instead. Commenters represented a wide range of people from children to seniors. Most were Oak Ridge residents. Some spoke of how much they enjoyed the trails, while others spoke of conservation and wildlife.

Among the Oak Ridge residents who spoke was Robert Kennedy, a member of the city’s Environmental Quality Advisory Board, but also a resident of the nearby Westwood neighborhood, a member of the Westwood Association, and self-proclaimed “tree hugger.”

“We’re here to talk about principles,” he said. “Well, the greatest ecological principle is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” He said he’d prefer the city not cut a wild ecosystem into pieces but instead develop other vacant parcels elsewhere in the city.

“Don’t monkey with the life-support system,” he said. “That is what these natural areas are for all of us.”

He also said that the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation had calculated the recreational value of the adjoining officially protected Black Oak Ridge Conservation Easement at about $100,000 per acre, or $300 million total. He said the parcel in question would increase that value by at least 10 percent.

Another speaker with a distinctive perspective was owner of The Houndry, Amanda Lovegrove. Her business involves walking dogs on Oak Ridge’s forest trails.

“A large portion of our work depends directly on this greenway,” she said of the trails on the property in question. She said these and other trails in the west gave pet owners “an option that doesn’t exist almost anywhere else on that side of town.” She said the development in the area would hurt her business.

“It wouldn’t just change our routes,” she said. “It would fundamentally affect our ability to operate.” She also said the area protects wildlife that has “fewer and fewer safe places to go.”

Planning Commissioner Charlie Hensley said he worried about whether the city and developers would even follow any set of principles.

“We’ve had principles in the past, but what always happens is that the principles shrink,” he said.

“All these very sincere people have moved the needle for me,” he said after the comment period and before the vote to further discuss the principles rather than approving them that night.

City gives more details

The city of Oak Ridge staff gave more details about its possible plans in a Facebook post in response to the comments, and provided more information on its website. It stated "unequivocally that any city-generated plan would include an unchanged North Boundary Trail at the top of Wisconsin that continues to be connected down to an area on the Oak Ridge Turnpike," that there would still be a connection to Lambert Quarry, and that the city would include a wild buffer area between the trail and development, although the city did not give that buffer's size. It also stated the city might give the trail a paved parking area with restrooms.

It did, however, state that the city had discussed other types of development for other parts of the parcel.

"While the city is in the early phases of evaluating potential uses, discussions have included much-needed housing that matches the lot sizes and character of the existing neighborhood at the top of the parcel — as well as more dense development, such as townhomes or apartments, and the potential for a school at the bottom of the parcel along the Oak Ridge Turnpike," the city stated.