POLAND Village discusses empty gas stations

Village officials hope to buy one of the stations.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- Two gas stations sit idle here, and village officials are trying to decide what should be done with the properties.
The former McQuaid's gas station at 22 S. Main St. and the former Shell gas station at 57 N. Main St. are little more than a stone's throw apart, and neither station has been open for business in more than a year.
Councilman Bill Dunnavant said village officials are interested in buying the McQuaid's property. Soil contamination concerns, however, have made council leery about buying the property.
"The problem is that it is a closed-down gas station. The tanks have been removed, but at one time gas had leaked from the tanks," Dunnavant said. "The village wants to go forward with this very slowly to make sure there is no liability."
Cleanup under way
McQuaid Distributing Marketing Inc. of Girard is still listed as the property owner. Dunnavant said the company is in the process of cleaning up any soil contamination caused by gas that leaked from the tanks.
Village officials are looking into hiring a specialist in legal environmental issues to determine what the village's responsibilities would be after buying the property. The specialist would cost the village about $125 an hour.
Dunnavant said council is not interested in seeing another gas station or convenience store open at the McQuaid's site.
"[The property] sits right in the center of town. We don't think it can be used for anything commercial, and we really don't want anything commercial there," he said.
No plans for park
There had been much talk of plans to put a park on the small piece of land, but Dunnavant said council has no plans to create a park there. He said council would like to beautify the land with a possible statue and landscaping.
Village officials are not looking to buy the former Shell gas station. They just want the station reopened or the underground gas tanks removed.
Dunnavant said council had been hopeful that the station, owned by Abdullah Hassan, who lists the station as his address, would reopen. The councilman said the site is the ideal location for a gas station in the village.
Tank removal requested
Dunnavant said a gas station owner legally can be made to remove underground gas tanks after a gas station has been idle for more than one year. Council has directed the fire chief to ask Hassan to remove the tanks.
Dunnavant said the village could remove the tanks and assess the cost to Hassan's taxes. He is not sure how much removing the tanks will cost, however.
jgoodwin@vindy.com