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City Council Approves Settlement In 2015 Upper Arlington Home Explosion

wnct.com

Columbus City Council last night approved a 37 thousand 500 dollar payment to an Upper Arlington couple whose home was damaged by a natural gas leak and house explosion in March of last year. David and Beatrice Hamilton live next door to the Sunningdale Way home that exploded. More than two dozen nearby homes were damaged or destroyed. The couple filed a claim for damages. State regulators determined a city worker opened an abandoned gas line that records incorrectly showed was an active water line. The employee did not fully close the line after discovering the error. City Attorney Rick Pfeiffer says the city has some liability.

Pfeiffer says other home owners have filed lawsuits against the city.

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Council also amended a package of 3.2 million dollars in tax breaks given to a German auto parts maker last year to expand its plant on South 3rd Street on the South Side. Hirschvogel Automotive got a 60 percent income tax break and a 10 year, 75 percent property tax abatement for the 50 million dollar expansion to create 37 new jobs and retain 332 others. But Columbus Development Director Steve Schoeny says the firm won't meet those job goals.

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The Ohio Tax Credit Authority last year approved a 68 thousand dollar state tax break for the same project.

Jim has been with WCBE since 1996. Before that he worked as a reporter at another Columbus radio station, and for three newspapers in Southwest Florida.
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