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| City of Abington to Take Over Former Pottery Site |
The Abingdon City Council has agreed to take ownership of a parcel of property that's sat vacant for decades.
The six acres that used to be the home of the Abingdon Pottery south plant is contaminated with lead. The property owner, Briggs Company, is planning to clean it up sometime this month in accordance with federal and state EPA standards.
The city council Monday night with a 7-1 vote accepted the property. Briggs is paying the clean-up cost, which officials say will be between $1.5 and $2.5 million.
Alderman Ron Stambaugh cast the only no vote. Stambaugh says the city doesn't need the property, and he accused Mayor Roger Stegall of flip-flopping.
"Mr. Mayor it's not been too long ago when I heard you make the comment that the city shouldn't get into the owning property business. I heard you distinctly say that, and now you're trying to push this down our throats so to speak. It's a contaminated piece of property. It'll be of no use to us."
Stambaugh says the city can't build on the land, and nobody he spoke to was in favor of the city taking ownership of it. Alderman Myron Hovind countered by saying the city will have more control over the property if it owns it. Another alderman, Dean Edmonson, says he initially planned to vote no but changed his mind. He says that came about after people who live near the property told him they didn't mind the city owning it as long as it was cleaned up.
The site has been vacant since 1926 and testing in 2007 revealed high levels of lead on it.
In other business, the city council voted unanimously to accept a $233,400 bid from Professional Meters Inc. of Morris to replace 1,200 residential water meters in Abingdon.
The project is being paid for with a no-interest federal stimulus loan, administered through the state, and is contingent on the city being approved for the money. |
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| 09 09 09 by Newsroom |
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