Athens County commissioners approved a list of houses to be demolished throughout the county, with priority given to those with health or safety hazards.
The county has $144,000 from a grant fund from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to demolish 15 houses.
There will be five houses in Nelsonville, four in Trimble, one in Millfield, two in Glouster and one in Albany demolished.
The other two houses to be torn down have yet to be determined, but the properties that will be demolished have to be residential properties; whether they are houses or mobile homes, said Glen Crippen of Hocking, Athens, Perry Community Action.
“The priority was buildings that were health priorities and safety priorities,” Athens Commissioner Lenny Eliason said.
Before the houses can be demolished, the county must conduct asbestos surveys, which if a house is tested positive, can increase the cost of demolition.
Asbestos surveys will begin immediately, and the bid to demolish the houses will likely be on one contract, Crippen said.
Though bidding for the project will not go out until around April, the list of houses to be torn down are not likely to change, Crippen said.
“Once dollars are obligated, we’re kind of locked in on houses,” Crippen said.
Reusable items from the houses, such as appliances, will be given to Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore project.
Ohio Department of Transportation announced at the meeting that it will be closing the median between County Road 7 and Route 33 because of the intersection’s large volume of accidents.
Debra Fought, ODOT District 10 Planning and Development administrator, said the median has been on their radar since 1997 and that it will be closed by April of this year.
“(ODOT) tried placing signs that restricted left turns at the intersection, but that only temporarily reduced the number of crashed,” Fought said.
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