ATHENS, Ohio – Athens City Council met Monday night for its biweekly regular session meeting where the council read an ordinance on second reading to convey a property at 83 Columbus Road to the Athens Community Improvement Corporation.
The Athens Planning and Development Committee first proposed the transfer of the property from the city to the ACIC at the Jan. 22 City Council Committees Meeting.
The property is an empty lot that was forfeited to the city by court order after it was posted for sale twice in 2012 with no bidders. The committee proposed at its Jan. 22 meeting that the property be transferred from the city to the ACIC because that entity could offer economic development options for the site that may not be possible if the property remains municipally owned.
According to Councilman Alan Swank, 4th Ward, the property was previously a Buy-Low gas station. Swank ensured the public that the property has no environmental hazards following remediation in December 2012, funded by Athens water customers. According to the Athens County Economic Development Council, the property underwent asbestos abatement and was demolished in 2023 with funds from Ohio Department of Development brownfield remediation grants.
The property is not being taxed by the city, the county, nor any other jurisdiction — and has not been taxed since 2012. Swank said at the Jan. 22 meeting that it would be advantageous to the city if the property went to a buyer who “returns the property to the tax rolls.”
Mayor Steve Patterson announced that he will attend The National League of Cities’ Congressional Conference in Washington D.C., which takes place March 9–13. He will also serve on the NLC’s 2024 presidential task force to advocate for Athens “to the presidential candidates and their teams throughout the election, the 2025 inauguration and the early months of the next administration.”
Patterson also briefly mentioned his recent eight-day visit to Ukraine. The city signed a sister city agreement with Ostroh, Ukraine in June 2023. Patterson spent six of his eight days abroad in Ostroh.
“Every city, every government, every citizen that I engaged with [in Ukraine] said, emphatically, ‘Thank you for the funding that Ukraine has been receiving during this time of unjust invasion of a foreign entity,’” Patterson said. Russia invaded the country in February 2022, eight years after it seized the Ukrainian territory of Crimea.
Patterson added that Ukrainians he spoke with also asked that the Athens local government do what it can to encourage Congress to reauthorize aid to the country. He said he will relay those comments to Capitol Hill when he’s in Washington D.C. next week.
Patterson said he would provide further details of the trip at the March 18 council meeting.
Council also read an ordinance, introduced by Swank, approving the naming of a previously unnamed right of way on Herrold Avenue as Davison Court, in honor Athens County’s first Black attorney, Andrew Jackson Davison, and his wife Eliza Brown Davison, a personal nurse and caregiver to George Armstrong Custer during the Civil War.
“[The Davisons] served not only their country, but this town, very well,” said Swank.
Davison Court, located along Herrold Avenue between West Union and West State streets, is named for The street signage was unveiled on Thursday, Feb. 29. In order for it to become official, the council must approve the renaming of the right-of-way via legislation.
At the Feb. 26 meeting of the Planning & Development Committee, members of Athens High School’s Andrew Jackson Davison Club and city DEIA Coordinator Lacey Rogers, presented information on the Davisons.
Keri Johnson contributed to this reporting.
Athens City Council’s next regular meeting will be Monday, March 18 at 7 p.m. in Athens City Hall, Council Chambers, third floor, 8 E. Washington St. Meetings are also available online. Regular session is the first and third Mondays of the month; committee meetings are the second and fourth Mondays.
