With only three items on the agenda Monday night, Athens City Council members postponed making a decision on the abandoned Columbus Road gas station in a meeting that was adjourned in less than 30 minutes.
Council did not discuss the pending land acquisition of a former gas station on Columbus Road, which was discussed in an executive session last week.
If council were to accept the land, the city would be responsible for the underground storage tanks beneath the station, which could end up being expensive for taxpayers.
No final decision on the acquisition has been made, said Council President Jim Sands.
“We’re waiting on some better evaluation of the potential hazards there,” he said. “We don’t want to get involved in an expensive process of cleaning out any leakage.”
Sands said that he would like to see the land used for city purposes, not for private businesses.
“We would like to see this used as a rest area for bikes, but that land would never be another business again,” he said.
Council members are currently discussing hiring a private company to evaluate the status of the underground tanks, which would cost taxpayers about $40,000, Sands said.
“We would be willing to do that,” he said.
The city currently has until May 20 to make a final decision to accept the land before it would be acquired by the state, said Service Safety Director Paula Horan-Moseley.
During the meeting, Councilwoman Chris Fahl, D-4th Ward, asked council to consider creating the Environment and Sustainability Commission to advise council on environmental issues.
“This was repeatedly asked for by the public,” Fahl said. “The commission would advise and recommend policy plans and be a clerking house for environmental and sustainability issues in the city.”
Another responsibility of the proposed commission would be to keep track of progress set forth by the Comprehensive Plan Review Advisory Committee, said Ed Baum, chair of the committee.
“We’re recommending this because we’ve reviewed and recommended these things to council, and council has too many other things to do,” Baum said. “This … body would make environmental recommendations to council or to the mayor.”
Council would be appointing the commission’s members as well as placing a council member on the commission, Fahl said.
jj360410@ohiou.edu
