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ASHLAND — The ultimate fate of a former gas station site along Claremont Avenue depends on the contents of its soil, Ashland city officials have said and records confirm.
Ashland bought the small corner lot that used to host the Eagle gas station in late 2019. The fuel apparatuses were demolished by 2023, and the property is now fenced off as contractors study the soil.
An email obtained by Ashland Source through a public records request shows the city’s contractor — The Mannik & Smith Group — working to secure cost estimates for an additional soil study.
State records from the Bureau of Underground Storage Tank Regulations show contractors removed three underground tanks in June. Two of those tanks had been in the ground since 1965; the other was installed in 1985, according to records.
What’s known as a “Tier 1 delineation” of the site found petroleum contamination of the soil at the site. A Tier 2 delineation is required to determine the extent of contamination, the chemicals of concern and if groundwater is affected.
Matthew Pesci, of Mannik, emailed Shane Kremser, the city’s engineer, on Aug. 21 stating he’s waiting to “complete the work in a drier period so we aren’t dealing with wet soild and/or groundwater entering the excavation.”
“When I get costs and a rough schedule put together, I will let you know,” he assured Kremser.
Parking or redevelopment?
The city received a $250,000 grant to clean up the site in 2021. Ashland Mayor Matt Miller said then the plan involved reseeding the site with grass.
In 2023, that plan hadn’t changed, but he considered a short-term plan to turn the lot into additional parking for U.S. Postal Service employees and customers.
The long-term plan for the property, however, would involve redeveloping it, Miller said.
“If fate would have it that (a developer) would offer (the city) money to buy that property … we’d be inclined to get it in the hands of the private sector so that someone could grow our local economy in that way,” Miller said during a council meeting on Tuesday.
Miller said he’d heard from a possible commercial developer who expressed interest in the site as soon as three weeks ago.
More demolition
Meanwhile, the house next to the site — 511 W. Liberty St. — is slated for demolition.
Miller said crews worked a couple of weeks ago on disconnecting utilities and capping water lines to the house, which has been a rental home for years.
Demolition of the site became possible through a 2023 deal struck between the city and the Ashland County Land Reutilization Corporation, or the Ashland land bank.
The city and the land bank split the $70,000 purchase price, each paying $35,000 for the structure. The land bank is covering the cost of the demolition.
The raze hasn’t happened, however, because of a quibble regarding a shared garage, said Kremser, the city’s engineer.
The issue stems in the fact that the two-car garage is split down the middle of the 511 W. Liberty St. property and the house next door.
Kremser said the demolition therefore, will not include the garage. It will only include the house.
Miller did not have a date for demolition, but said it will happen “very soon.”