The Athens County Engineer recommended to the county commissioners yesterday that the county buy a piece of property and hire an architect to build a new engineer's office.
Archie Stanley, Athens County Engineer, said he would like to purchase a $265,000, 40-acre piece of land in Cainville. The state department of transportation had previously used the land as a borrow pit - a hole filled with excess building material - when building state Route 50.
Stanley said the most appealing thing about this piece of land is that hills surround it, making it an unlikely spot for other development. The current engineer's office on East State Street has seen significant development around it since it was built in 1954.
Stanley said he believes all of the big trucks and stockpiles owned by the engineer's office are a sore thumb and the land could be a bigger asset to the community if the engineer's department did not own it. The current location of the engineer's office was appraised at $2 million, not including the price of demolishing the building.
The commissioners went into an executive session, blocking members of the media from entering, to discuss the purchase. At the session, the commissioners decided Stanley needed to negotiate a few more things - specifically, an Environmental Protection Agency clearance and a specific date for the $1,000 a month payment. The commissioners will make a decision about the purchase next week after Stanley negotiates these changes. There is also a question about allowing the owner to keep the rights to the timber on 15 acres of the property.
Also at the meeting, Athens County Planning Director Bob Eichenberg asked for approval to start work on the Athens County Comprehensive Plan. To start creating the committee that will make the plan, $1,000 will be taken out of the Athens County Planning Commission budget. This money will be put toward six meetings - a public meeting and five training sessions.
Eichenberg has given a list of possible plan committee members to the commissioners, who will make the final decision on who will be selected. Eichenberg said he is going to suggest putting together a four- or five-person committee to figure out who will actually create the plan.
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Andrea Golby
