ATHENS, Ohio — In perhaps the city’s ultimate appeal for passage, Athens Mayor Steve Patterson told Athens City Council Monday that if voters adopt a proposed .2% income tax increase May 5, he will pledge to restore Saturday service to Athens Public Transit.
Currently, the city’s income tax rate is 1.95%, with the proposed ballot language asking voters to increase that amount to 2.15%. That increase would raise an additional $1.8 million for the city’s $20 million general fund. A prior proposed .3% increase failed by a wide margin last year.
A restoration of Saturday bus services, which ended when the COVID-19 pandemic began, “is something I would commit to,” Patterson said.
“This is something that would certainly benefit everyone, to have Saturday service come back,” Patterson said, while also offering he would like to see Sunday service happen, too. He gave his remarks during the communications portion of the meeting.
Currently, as part of a multi-faceted mix of how it appropriates general fund revenue — most of which is generated by the city’s income tax — the city appropriates 0.82% of its general fund revenue toward the transportation assistance fund. Most recently, the city set aside $150,000 for Athens Public Transit. In past years, the city funded APT at about $200,000 annually.
Patterson said he gave his commitment to increased APT — only if the income tax increase passes — after having a discussion with Hocking Athens Perry Community Action Program Mobility Coordinator Ben Ziff.
After the council meeting, Patterson reaffirmed his commitment to Saturday service restoration. “If the citizens vote for the levy and it passes, absolutely,” he said.
The timeline for restoration will likely occur in 2028, because the income tax increase as part of the city’s overall income tax that flows into the city would occur in April and October of 2027. That would likely come by way of slightly altering the income tax appropriations “mix,” so that slightly more is set aside for transportation, he said.
HAPCAP and Athens Public Transit benefited last year, and again this year, from an AmeriHealth Caritas Ohio grant of $150,000 per year, allowing for free rides for everyone. Because of the free rides, Athens Public Transit has seen a 13% increase in ridership. It served 343,000 passengers last year, Ziff said at a March 23 presentation to the council.
Athens Public Transit currently offers bus routes across Athens County, serving Albany, Athens, Albany, Chauncey, Nelsonville, and The Plains.
Tree commission chair throws shade
Shade Tree Commission Chair Tristan Kinnison addressed the council during public comments Monday, alleging that the city has violated city code by not informing the commission of the negative impacts on trees related to two city construction projects.
One of them is the completed Athens Parking Garage renovations, where an “island” for trees — in this case, a single tree — was placed just outside the parking garage beside East Washington Street, in front of the Athens Photographic Project display.
Under the city code, the Shade Tree Commission is supposed to be notified of any changes to trees and other large flora owned by the city, Kinnison said.
Athens City Code states that “no person” may plant, prune or remove trees in public areas in Athens without first getting permission from the city service-safety director’s office, “whose permission shall be given … after seeking the advice and consultation of the Shade Tree Commission,” except in emergency circumstances “as determined by the service-safety director.”
Amid renovations at the parking garage, a hawthorn tree was removed — its whereabouts unknown — and replaced by a small Kentucky coffee tree, Kinnison said.
“This was not on our radar at the Shade Tree Commission, at all,” Kinnison said, “despite the city code.”
Additionally, he said that the construction debris placed in the soil is not conducive to tree health. It has “low quality soil,” due to construction debris, and he doubts that the tree will live very long without soil amendment.
“I don’t think it’s the worst thing — that’s a lot of similar stuff we would’ve liked to have seen; a widened tree pit, a lot more space in those pits,” Kinnison said. Had the commission been consulted, “This could’ve been a real easy win,” he said.
However, Kinnison said he’s more concerned with an ongoing project involving an estimated five trees in the city’s $6.5 million grant-funded project to relocate overhead utility lines underground in the Uptown area, including Carpenter and East State streets.
Kinnision described the trees Uptown as some of the “most visible shade trees in the city.” Again, he said the Shade Tree Commission was “not looped in on this at all. … We had to reach out to city administration to get any consultation on this, after the work had been done.”
Long stretches of sidewalk along Carpenter “have been jack-hammered,” with the trees so far left only with square-shaped patches of grass and dirt, amid concrete rubble.
Kinnison, a certified arborist, said the impacted trees are at risk of drying out much quicker and lacking soil nutrients than they would have been without the construction. He informed the council that he has contacted Arts, Parks and Recreation about watering them.
Council President Micah McCarey said a member of administration, or himself, would be in touch with the commission. After the council meeting, Patterson had no comment on Kinnison’s remarks.
City officials and the Shade Tree Commission have been at odds previously, when administration attempted to remove the commission’s regulatory authority over reviewing development projects where city trees would be impacted. The changes would have moved landscaping approval for large projects to the Athens Planning Commission and reduced tree requirements for new developments.
Kinnison said Patterson has not re-appointed any Shade Tree Commission members since the attempt to revoke their power with the Planning Commission, leaving the commission with just four members. A full commission has seven members, he said.
Noise violations suffered are ‘louder than a Court Street festival,’ citizen tells Council
A Fairview Avenue resident who spoke during public comments Monday criticized the city for having a “weak” noise ordinance.
Tom Hanlon, a Fairview resident the past 10 years, said the noise he has endured due to neighbors playing loud music in the North High Street area rattles his windows at night, from his home one-third of a mile away. One neighbor “has quit going outside” after voicing similar complaints, he noted.
“The volume and frequency of noise this year has been the worst that I have ever experienced,” Hanlon said.
Hanlon said the city’s noise ordinance “is not a strong or even an enforceable noise ordinance before 10 p.m.” Hanlon said he has made numerous complaints to Athens police.
“As I gather evidence to pursue a civil suit … all this time has been wasted,” Hanlon said. “It [the noise] could’ve been stopped with a noise ordinance that was better written and properly enforced.”
No city officials commented on the matter.
Other business
In action taken Monday, Athens City Council suspended the rules and adopted ordinances to:
- Create the Multipurpose Pavilion Fund 908 through Ordinance 0-36-26, which will allow the city to accept grants and donations for the forthcoming Athens Farmers Market Pavilion, to be located behind the Athens Community Center.
- Approve a then-and-now certificate through Ordinance 0-37-26, so that a bill of $25,200 can be paid within the next 30 days for citizen service software.
- Once again approve the city’s participation in Ohio Department of Transportation’s Cooperative Purchasing Program for rock salt through Ordinance 0-41-26, which Transportation Committee Chair Beth Clodfelter, At-Large, said saves the city significant money through collective purchasing power.
- Approve a then-and-now certificate through Ordinance 0-42-26, so that payments may be disbursed related to the city’s $5 million public safety training facility on Kenny Drive. Construction continues on the highly-anticipated project, which will provide training structures for first responders, including a burn tower for firefighter training. Most of the then-and-now certificate was approved in order to pay for facility amenities in the process of completion. Patterson said the training facility will also be used by police, search and rescue team members, and other emergency personnel, and may be able to provide regional training to volunteer firefighters. There would be a maintenance fee for the facility assessed on outside-the-area participants. Large cargo container boxes will enable trainees to be involved in simulations of elevated front porch/patio rescues and basement rescues, Patterson said.
In other matters, the council held first reading of an Ordinance 0-40-26, which authorizes a grant application to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for $30,000–$50,000 for trail development in two southside Athens locations. One location involves about 17 acres that the Dowler family sold to the city about 10 years ago, Patterson said.
The site is located off of Pomeroy Road (Old US 33), along Farhills Drive and Aveline Circle. The project would require a small easement, connecting city-owned Camp Rotan to the former Dowler property, creating trails that would resemble Sells Park in scope, he said. There is a plateau area on Aveline that could serve as a wheelchair-accessible path, he added.
The grant would also include funding to develop trails on 5.5 acres of property at the city-owned Gawande Nature Preserve. The preserve is also located off of Pomeroy Road, on Cardiff Lane.
Athens City Council’s next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, April 28 at Athens City Hall, Council Chambers, third floor, 8 E. Washington St. Meetings are also streamed online. Regular sessions are on the first and third Mondays of the month; committee meetings are on the second and fourth Mondays.
