Plans for Oneida Dollar General Rejected
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Plans for Oneida Dollar General Rejected
Concerned citizens await the Board’s decision on the rezoning for the Dollar General
By Caleb Jeffers
At the February 20th meeting of the Oneida Board of Mayor and Alderman, the Board heard discussion of the controversial plans to rezone a property between Verdun and Copper Lake Roads to a hybrid residential-commercial zone in order to facilitate the construction of a Dollar General.
At the meeting, Taylor Forrester (an attorney from Knoxville representing those proposing the construction) requested that the Board not vote on the proposal for 30 days in order to facilitate discussions with homeowners around the area. “We want to meet with the citizens,” he said, “to see if we can facilitate discussion.” He expressed a wish to speak with local landowners to “alleviate the opposition.”
Mike Slaven, who lives across the road from the proposed location, had other things to say about the proposal. He stated, “They’ve had ample time to speak to the landowners, and that hasn’t happened.” After hearing what he had to say, Oneida Mayor Lori Phillips-Jones asked, “Is there anything that could be done to change your feelings?”
To that, Mr. Slaven responded “Personally, I don’t think so.” Mayor Pillips-Jones asked the Board if there was a motion to approve the proposal. The Board remained silent. The proposal was rejected and, as Phillips-Jones put it, was “moot at this point.”
When asked if this proposal could be brought back up again in the future, Alderman Jeff Tibbals stated that if the proposal for a Dollar General was presented again, it would be rejected before even needing a vote. However, the property owner could propose a different plan for the land that may need to be voted on.
