Forge street request passed (03/18/08)

A portion of a city street and two alleys will be vacated to give a local industry more storage space.

Members of the Portland City Council voted Monday to vacate a portion of Penn Street located east of Wayne Street, and to vacate an east-west alley and a north-south alley located along the northwest corner of Portland Forge, 225 E. Lafayette St.

A public hearing on the vacating of the alleys and a portion of the street was held Monday. Only city officials and Portland Forge officials attended the meeting. No one in the audience voiced an opinion on the requests to vacate.

Portland Forge officials informed council members in November that they would like the street and alleys vacated so the company would have more room to store steel.

Brian Hayes, technical/process manager for Portland Forge, told council members Monday night that the company no longer will store steel near a large crane, which is used to move the material.

Hayes said in November that a forklift will now be used to move the steel, as the crane is aging.

Before council members voted, councilman Don Gillespie said, "I wasn't aware that (portion of Penn Street) was a street."

Hayes said most of the traffic on the street is for the factory.

Also Monday, council members:

•Approved an ordinance that establishes fire investigative report fees.

The city will charge the public $5 for all fire reports. Also, whenever the Portland Fire Department holds a fire extinguisher training class for a business, the company will be charged $25 per extinguisher used.

Fire chief Matt Aker said after the meeting that the city has been charging these fees for several years but he could find no ordinance supporting the fees.

•Heard assistant street and park department superintendent Doug Blankenbaker announce that the first citywide clean-up week will be held April 7-11. Any large items, such as furniture and brush will be collected.

Appliances will be picked up as long as the Freon has been removed. Tires, oil, computer monitors and hazardous materials will not be picked up.

In a related matter, Blankenbaker said the street department and other city departments will be closed Friday in observance of Good Friday. Trash normally collected on Friday will be picked up on Monday.

•Heard Bruce Hosier, the city's mayor, encourage council members to attend a public meeting on the possibility of establishing a downtown historic preservation ordinance.

The meeting will be held Thursday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Jay County Public Library, 315 N. Ship St., Portland.[[In-content Ad]]