City Council members passed an ordinance at Monday’s meeting that would extend the pilot residential curbside compost project.
The project would be extended until June 30 and originally ran for six months and ended on Dec. 30, 2018. Councilman Kent Butler (D-1st Ward) said the extension would allow more data to be collected about the project. A decision would be made after the extended period whether to keep the project or not.
Athens-Hocking Recycling (AHR), asked the city for an extension of the contract. The extension would help AHR better gather data on the effectiveness of composting in Athens.
Each household that participate in the project received a bucket to put the compost in, according to a previous Post report. The buckets could be placed on the curb during the same day as trash and recycling pick up.
Mayor Steve Patterson said about 35 more customers have been added to the pilot project. There were already more than 200 customers before that.
“More than 22 tons of biomass have been diverted from the landfill...in this first portion of the pilot,” Patterson said.
Two ordinances also passed for the Bounty on the Bricks fundraiser on Aug. 3. The ordinances would allow for a portion of Court Street to be closed from 8 a.m. to midnight and to allow vending in the designated area for the fundraiser.
An ordinance was introduced to include sections 718.80 through 718.95 of the Ohio Revised Code.
The ordinance is a result of a case Athens joined in November 2017 with other municipalities that was being filed against the state of Ohio. The case ruled in favor of the state and is now in the process of being appealed. The city was advised to be in compliance with the Ohio Revised Code and are included in the ordinance.
Another ordinance was introduced would allow closing certain street in uptown Athens on June 21 and 22 for the Brick Criterium.
Brick Criterium is a bicycle race in Athens that has not occurred in 20 years. Streets that would be closed for vehicular traffic and parking would include portions of Stewart Street, Court Street, West State Street and several others for the race course.
Councilman Patrick McGee, I-At Large, expressed his concerns about blocking multiple streets for the course over the two days. McGee suggested the course be moved to go around College Green to avoid having so many portions of the road be closed.
Daniel Brown, an organizer for the Brick Criterium, said he spoke to the people who originally planned the race in order to bring the Brick Criterium back to Athens.
“The history is very important to me, and I wanted to make sure I knew about the history before I went ahead,” Brown said.
He also said the challenging course that includes the bricks, hills and tight corners is what attracts people to the event.
The last time the Brick Criterium was held in 1989, it was estimated that about 20,000 people were at the event. Brown said the Brick Criterium stopped since bicycle races can be hard to sustain and hopes he can put this event on so it can continue from year to year.
“I am really excited about this being reintroduced to our community and feel that it’s an added benefit and would be fun event to witness and for the participants as well,” Butler said.
