Akron renewal plan goes forward
The Akron Beacon Journal
AKRON - The Akron City Council approved a renewal plan and blight report Monday night for 644 acres of industrial land that includes Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
It was a unanimous vote. Councilman Bruce Kilby, D-2, who owns property within the area, abstained.
Kilby did not abstain, however, from speaking out against the plan. He argued that the city has not fully considered possible environmental problems with Goodyear's inactive landfill, and those comments may land him in legal hot water.
The legislation authorizes the city to use eminent domain, if necessary, to acquire about 20 homes and three businesses off Seiberling Street. Kilby owns a home in that area.
Kilby requested an opinion from Akron Law Director Max Rothal about his participation in the debate. Rothal responded:
"You are so advised that the Ohio Ethics Law prohibits you from voting, discussing or otherwise participating in Akron City Council's decision to approve or disapprove the Eastgate Urban Renewal Area and related legislation.''
Rothal cited the Ohio Revised Code and noted that it "provides criminal penalties'' for violation of the section.
Council President Marco Sommerville repeated the law director's warning as Kilby attempted to address council.
Kilby said: "I'll take that risk.''
Earlier, Kilby had distributed a letter to his fellow council members along with Ohio Environmental Protection Agency documents about Goodyear's former landfill. He asked the council to take some time to consider whether the land could even be developed.
The 97-acre Goodyear Seiberling Landfill, which at some points reached depths of 55 feet, sits just south of Interstate 76 beside five residential streets. It is bounded by Seiberling Street and Massillon Road.
The city has proposed upscale retail development for the area.
Monday night, Kilby referred several times to toxic waste being dumped there, citing a 1981 letter from Goodyear to the Ohio EPA listing organics, inorganics, solvents, heavy metals and acids on a checklist of wastes in the landfill, which Goodyear used from 1955 to 1977.
However, a 1999 document in his packet regarding groundwater testing states: "The landfill contains predominantly nonhazardous materials (solids), including fly ash, wood, cinders and paper waste.''
The tests did not detect volatile organic compounds.
Homes in the area rely on city water.
Accusations traded
The debate got testy when Kilby and Mayor Don Plusquellic argued during the afternoon committee meeting.
"I understand we have problems from being an old industrial city, but I just don't think this is something to ramrod through council,'' Kilby said during the council's special economic development and job creation committee.
He said he was concerned about the potential for the city to be responsible for cleaning up the site, whatever it may contain.
He also accused the mayor of not being forthright about the development plans and urging the council to "go into this blindly and trust you.''
Kilby said he believes the site is contaminated beyond recovery and that any retail development is foolhardy.
"How in the world do you develop a landfill that large?'' he asked the mayor. "How do you put an upscale shopping center there.... I think it's impossible, in my opinion.''
Plusquellic accused Kilby of politicking and using undue scare tactics to thwart a project designed to keep Goodyear headquartered in Akron and attain more jobs through development of the area.
The mayor said that the environmental tests on the landfill are not done, but he added that the possibility of the site turning into a "boogeyman'' shouldn't dissuade the council from taking a step in the process.
Not a purchase
He reminded members that the proposal before them was a zoning change and not a property purchase.
"I don't know what you're trying to do here besides scare people,'' Plusquellic told Kilby.
Councilwoman Terry Albanese, D-6, who chairs the committee, argued at Monday night's full council meeting against taking time on the issue, noting that five to six years of testing groundwater samples every six months had not revealed any problems.
She also argued that if the council wanted to address the dump, which the city is not purchasing, members needed to act on the renewal plan.
"If we do nothing, it will be there forever,'' she said.
Councilmen Michael Williams, D-at-large, and John Conti, D-at large, spoke in favor of taking additional time, but they and Kilby were defeated in a 10-3 vote.
