Mayor Mason Shares Plans to Open Up Bids Soon to Clean Up Linden Avenue Eye-Sore

DOWNTOWN ZANESVILLE, Ohio- The former Lear property on Linden avenue across from the Barn is not only an eye-sore but also a strain on the surrounding neighborhood’s reputation, health, and finances since it was abandoned years ago.

The mayor of Zanesville, Don Mason, says that since the property was abandoned, appraisal values for the neighboring households have decreased approximately 3% every year. Fortunately, ARPA (American Rescue Plans Act) funds have been approved for the project which allow the cleanup to be possible earlier than expected. Now, what needs to be figured out is how the city and county governments will market the cleanup and removal project for contractors.

“We will be formulating a plan on how to advertise for bidders and the scope of the bid will be to literally clean up the Linden avenue properties per specifications. Because our specifications have been approved by the Ohio EPA, and then part of that bid scope will include coordination with EPA and certificated asbestos professionals on segmenting or separating out the asbestos from what might just be pure construction debris then transporting from site,” Don Mason, Mayor of Zanesville stated.

A high-end estimate for the cost of cleanup is $1.7 million, with the potential for the project to cost substantially less if things go smoothly. The cleanup is the first step in a revitalization for the neighborhood as Linden avenue is the perfect spot for investment and additional amenities. The city already has a vision for what a post-cleanup neighborhood would look like. 

“I would love to see in this area a pharmacy, gas station, mini-market, that kind of thing. Because this is a bit of a food desert there. There’s not a lot of places you can walk to get food. But right now, there aren’t that many residents. So, we start to create the amenities that residents will want to live near, then at that point in time, we can work with housing developers on putting housing across the street on the west side of Linden avenue,” Mason said.

Mayor Mason says the project is relatively inexpensive and the cleanup relatively easy, so he suspects many local contractors will be interested in the bid. The bottleneck though is whether those contracting companies have a certified asbestos professional on staff to oversee the operation. They hope to begin cleanup this winter as asbestos is most safely removed in the winter while it’s frozen.