Gas station owner ordered to clean up tires

Olney Police ordered the new owner of the abandoned gas station on Main Street to clean up two huge piles of tires and mitigate two underground gasoline tanks, Police Chief Dan Birbeck told the City Council at its June 12 meeting.

The Council had asked Chief Birbeck, who oversees the City’s code enforcement efforts, to begin ticketing the gas station at 301 E. Main St., as soon as a six-month redemption period for the foreclosed property ended this month. The City was within weeks of taking possession of the property and removing the tires when a Texas-based holding company purchased it at a county foreclosure sale. The company, GFF Holdings LLC, agreed to pay $23,000 in back taxes and to clean up the tires and remove the underground gas tanks as part of the purchase agreement, city officials said.

“We are off and running with code enforcement,” Olney Police Chief Dan Birbeck said. “We have been in touch `with the new owner. She didn’t think it would be as expensive as it is.”

Chief Birbeck said the new owner, an attorney, now has 30 days to begin cleaning up the discarded tires or be cited. City Administrator Arpegea Pagsuberon said the owner could pay the City to use its new tire shredder to dispose of the tires.