The Oak Ridge City Council will conduct its first hearing and take its first vote Monday night to rezone approximately 375 acres on the west end of the city in Roane County to accomodate a company that recycles wind turbine blades.
The Clinch River separates the property from the largest residential housing development in the city, The Preserve. Residents and some city officials have expressed concern about the piles of windmill turbine blades and other items on the property, and have raised questions about the effects of the recycling process.
City employees who enforce codes have charged the company, Carbon Rivers, with violations and a $1,500 fine. The city’s fire department is awaiting information on a hazardous analysis, which the city government requested months ago.
The company’s leaders are opposed to the recommended rezoning, saying it would be detrimental to their operations and would reduce the space on their property that can be used.
It’s led them to consider moving their operations out of the city.
Rezoning issues
The Carbon Rivers/Powerhouse Land site on the west end of Oak Ridge that is up for rezoning by Oak Ridge City Council. The company recycles decommissioned wind turbine blades. It is located across the Clinch River from The Preserve housing development.
Powerhouse Land LLC, which owns the company’s land at 350 Powerhouse Road, has asked the city to rezone the land from Federal Industry and Research to IND-1 and IND-2 for industrial use. The city staff is recommending the land be zoned IND-1 for industrial use, but with a 600-foot buffer near the river of residential open space, called RG-1, to separate the site from The Preserve.
Council member Chuck Hope said the development eventually could have 5,000 homes by the time construction ends.
Company representatives, in a statement issued by their lawyer Sarah Johnson, said they are opposed to the 600-foot buffer for open space. Here is what she cited:
Charlie Hensley, a pilot, shot this aerial photo of the 350 Powerhouse Road site, on the left, the Clinch River and The Preserve housing development on the right in west Oak Ridge. He is an Oak Ridge City Council member.
Health and environmental concerns – the land was used for a power plant during the days of the Manhattan Project and is now classified as a brownfield area with ongoing remediation efforts
Land-use restrictions from the U.S. Department of Energy, which owned the land, and the Heritage Center Industrial Park, which the property is part of. These restrictions prohibit residential use.
Compatibility with the rest of the industrial park’s land and land use, which has been zoned for industrial park use.
In response to The Oak Ridger’s questions about the rezoning recommendation and the 600-foot residential buffer, Jennifer Williams, a senior planner for the city of Oak Ridge, said the property is deed restricted against residential use and that will not change, no matter how it is rezoned. She said in an email that “it’s common practice in planning/zoning to use buffers to separate what could be considered incompatible uses (like residential and industrial).”
Staff with the city of Oak Ridge and the city Planning Commission are recommending that approximately 375 acres on the far west end of Oak Ridge be rezoned mainly for industrial use but that a 600-foot land buffer be zoned residential, although it cannot be used as residential because of several factors. However, it would establish more space between the work of the company that owns the land and residents of The Preserve, located across the Clinch River. Carbon Rivers recycles wind turbine blades on the site.The buffer is noted on this map with the reddish
Both the city staff and Oak Ridge Regional Planning Commission are recommending the 600-foot buffer, which includes a wetlands area.
Carbon Rivers and Powerhouse Land
The names Powerhouse Land and Carbon Rivers are often used interchangeably. Johnson, the attorney, explained to The Oak Ridger that her clients are basically the same company, but Powerhouse Land LLC owns the property and Carbon Rivers Inc. is the operator.
The Powerhouse land was previously owned by the DOE and is zoned for Federal Industry and Research. Williams made a presentation on the rezoning issues to Oak Ridge City Council in a work session last month. In the presentation, she said the land was used in recent years for a logging/wood chipping operation. The property was leased to Powerhouse Land or Carbon Rivers while the land was still owned by the Department of Education and the company began storing decommissioned windmill blades on site. Last June, the property was sold to the company.
Since it’s no longer owned by DOE, the land must now be rezoned by the city. The company asked for the land to be rezoned to IND-1 and IND-2, which is for industrial use. The proposed land use is for “material storage, transloading, transfer facilities and material processing facilities, truck, rail and barge material delivery, while the remaining portions of land are cleared and developed for future tenants over the next 2-5 years,” Williams’ presentation showed.
The city staff said industrial zoning was appropriate because of the isolation of the site, its proximity to East Tennessee Technology Park, deed restrictions and DOE’s property restraints for use of the property. A notation states that the Oak Ridge Board of Zoning Appeals could set more limits for the existing operation if its rezoned IND-1 or IND-2.
City council is scheduled to take the first of two votes needed to approve the rezoning at its meeting at 7 p.m. Monday in the Central Services Complex, 100 Woodbury Lane. Public hearings will be held, as required, before each vote. Pending no unforeseen circumstances, the second vote by council would take place in May.
Code violations
Powerhouse Land LLC has been cited for city code violations. During an April 2 hearing, Administrative Hearing Officer Hugh B. Ward Jr. dismissed five citations from the city’s code enforcement department but fined the company $1,500 for other violations, including having no water, no heat and no working restrooms on the site.
Johnson told Ward during the hearing the city had turned off the water because of a broken water line and the company is working with the city to restore it. On Thursday, she said the city Public Works Department still hadn’t connected the water line to the meter. Ward noted in his order against Powerhouse Land LLC the company had leased the property since 2022 and owned it since last June.
“The company has had sufficient time to act on the city’s concerns and therefore the request for an extension of time is denied,” Ward stated in his order. As administrative hearing officer, Ward hears cases involving violations of city ordinances regulating building and property maintenance, according to the city website. The company’s attorney said they would not appeal the fines.
Hazardous analysis
City officials said a hazardous analysis was requested from the company many months ago. The analysis was received by the city in mid-March. Anthony Grande, the Oak Ridge Fire Department’s deputy chief of administration and fire marshal, said in an email that the analysis helps the department understand the fire safety issues with the design or operation of a facility.
City Manager Randy Hemann told The Oak Ridger, in response to questions, the fire prevention office reviewed the company’s comments in the analysis, returned them back to the company March 20 and gave a deadline of April 11 for the company to resubmit the analysis, he said, attributing his information to city Fire Inspector George Carroll.
“Once the report has been received and approved a follow-up inspection will be conducted to determine code compliance with the report and violations at that time,” the city manager said using the information from Carroll.
The company responds
Eva Li, vice president of operations for the company, talked to The Oak Ridger about some of the concerns voiced by residents of The Preserve and city officials. She said the company’s leaders have tried to work with the city since they went into business on the site several years ago. She said they invited the city government’s departments to the site in 2023 and 2024 to talk about what they’re doing and ask for guidance.
“We love the site,” she said, saying she and others with the company feel the property they purchased for $500,000 is perfect for what they want to do. Most of the employees and leaders are from here, she said, and have had connections to Oak Ridge National Laboratory or the University of Tennessee. Asked about the wetlands, she said, “We are bird lovers ourselves,” and they invite the public to come view the wildlife. She said they do have “No Trespassing” signs near where the company’s work takes place to keep people off the actual work site.
The company gets the blades from states such as Indiana, Iowa and Texas. They use technology that allows them to recycle the glass fiber from the blades – she said they’re the only company that can do this. The blades are basically mulched into larger pieces than wood mulch, she said. That glass fiber mulch can be used for the creation of other products such as hot tubs or boats, she said. The resin that is taken off the blades can be used, she said.
She pointed out the company worked with DOE officials in leasing the site and there were lots of review of their actions and plans by DOE. She said DOE thought it was the perfect site for their operations.
In response to questions, she said within the 600-foot buffer is the K1313 Building from the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant days. She said they use it to store equipment not in use, but that DOE spent a “decent amount of money” to remediate it.
She said this is the first case of land zoned FIR going into private ownership and needing to be rezoned.
City council speaks out
Residents of The Preserve have complained about the work at the site, such as the noise from grinding the blades for recycling the material, dust and piles of windmill blades. Several Oak Ridge City Council members have indicated they don’t like what is going on at the site, and believe the process has left the city at the end of the job of rezoning the property, and thus, somewhat controlling how it is or will be used.
“So we’re potentially looking at a windmill junkyard,” council member Charlie Hensley said at the March 18 council meeting following Williams’ presentation. That’s how The Preserve resident Kelli Thompson, a nature photographer and retired lawyer, has also described it.
“This is a totally inappropriate use (of the land) in my opinion,” council member Hope said. He added that because of the way the process of rezoning – and DOE’s selling of the property to a private owner – has happened he doesn’t think the city has been able to look after the concerns of The Preserve’s residents. He said Carbon Rivers actions could adversely affect property values in the development.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Oak Ridge Council to vote on rezoning land where wind turbine blades are recycled