City to vacate part of Garfield Avenue
By Bert Lehman
The city of Clintonville has started the process to vacate the portion of Garfield Avenue between 12th Street and Wilson Street so it can be incorporated into the new campus of Clintonville Utilities.
At its Dec. 12 meeting, the Clintonville Common Council approved a preliminary resolution to vacate a portion of Garfield Avenue.
During the discussion, it was announced that there will be a public hearing on the matter on Feb. 13.
Council meeting
The resolution to vacate part of Garfield Avenue was originally on the agenda for the Nov. 14 council meeting.
Prior to that meeting, Justin Mc Auly, Parks and Recreation and Public Works director, sent a memo to the council.
In the memo, Mc Auly said the Streets Committee recommended that the council approve vacating the described section of Garfield Avenue.
“The Water and Electric Utility plans on including the section in question into their new campus, which will include their new facility and their facility at 65 E 12th Street,” Mc Auly said in the memo. “This section of street will have a gate on each end and will not be allowed for thru traffic.”
At the Nov. 14 meeting, Clintonville Utilities Manager Dave Tichinel said shutting off the end of Garfield Avenue is currently part of the plan for when the new utilities building is constructed where the Armory is currently located. The plan is to install gates so semi-trucks can get in and out.
City Attorney Keith Steckbauer asked when approval for this needs to be completed.
Tichinel said the street would probably be closed starting Feb. 1 for the demolition of the Armory building.
He added that the loading dock will be on that street for the new utility building.
Steckbauer said he needed to make sure the city was allowing enough time to vacate the street properly.
“When you vacate a street, you do have to go through publication notices and those sorts of things,” Steckbauer said.
No action was taken at the November meeting in order to allow Steckbauer to research the matter.