Athens Council plans for fire chief to oversee blasting permits

ATHENS — City leaders plan to change the blasting ordinance to put the responsibility of permitting on the fire chief.

Currently the Athens City Council gives approval for blasting permits.

City attorney Shane Black said the change will allow the fire chief to use not only federal and state regulations, but have flexibility in making those regulations stricter.

The council will vote on the change Monday.

As a side note, Councilman Harold Wales, who expressed concerns about blasting at a previous meeting, said he has learned that blasting did not cause cracks at homes at Canebrake.

Wales said engineers determined the cracks in people's driveways and garages were not from blasting.

The builder has agreed to fix the homes.

"It could have been a bad mix of concrete or something else, but it was not blasting," Wales said.

Holly Hollman

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