Zanesville Council Approves Measures

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The Zanesville City Council passed an ordinance under emergency measure that allows for a Phase II environmental review of the abandoned Lear property.

Zanesville Mayor Don Mason explained that the ordinance approves funding for environmental testing to ensure there are no harmful toxins that remain in the soil from the prior manufacturing facility.

“You know, I’m often asked, what’s next, what are you going to build, and we’re still in the process of doing the analytics,” Mason said. “So at the end of the day, when we go out to construct or invite a developer to construct on the 29 acre site, they’ll have complete confidence the site is environmentally clean.”

Mason noted that if the site doesn’t meet the EPA regulations, the city has been assured that the previous owner is responsible for the cleanup and not the city.

The council also passed a couple of traffic orders that will lead to safer traveling on Maple Avenue. 

“So, what we’ve identified is at the corner of Bell and Maple Avenue, Northbound Maple Avenue traffic wants to take a right on red. A lot of times, they fail to identify that the traffic going North on Bell, even though it looks like there’s two left turn lanes, in fact, the right left turn lane is also a straight lane,” Mason said. “So right now, we’re making it a no right turn on red, because that site is in constant motion.”

In addition to the Bell Street intersection, the city will install a no right turn on red from Northbound Maple Avenue into the Staples shopping plaza because Southbound Maple Avenue has a dedicated left arrow traffic signal to direct motorists into that shopping facility.