The Rome City Commission is expected to sign off tonight on Atlanta Gas Light’s next step in its voluntary restoration of an old manufactured gas plant site downtown.

The board is expected to accept a proposed covenant that will limit land disturbances on a city-owned portion of the 3.5-acre West First Street tract that now houses the Hawthorn Suites hotel and the Town Green.

Public Services Director Kirk Milam said the section covered by the covenant is in the street, so restricting development would have no real effect on the city.

“We’re not going to do anything there, anyway,” he said.

AGL ran a manufactured gas plant on the site between the 1860s and 1920s that was the main source of fuel for most homes in the community. It completed soil cleanup in 2001 but still tests the groundwater to be sure no coal byproducts are being carried offsite.

“They have an obligation to monitor with underground wells until any evidence of contamination is gone,” Milam said.

A pocket of contaminants was recently detected deep under West First Street. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division is expected to accept a permanent promise to never disrupt the pocket, called a plume, as part of the ongoing remediation plan.

“Some (of the byproducts) are down so far that they can’t remove them, so an option is to make sure the pathways for it to get to people are limited,” Milam said.

The Rome site is one of nine plants AGL operated in the state before natural gas was widely available. Its remediation program is aimed at ensuring the sites can be reused, or contained to protect human health and the environment.

A section of its Athens plant site is now part of the North Oconee River Greenway bike and pedestrian trail. The rest was redeveloped as a multimodal transportation center for Athens-Clarke County.

Among the other items on the board’s agenda tonight is the award of a bid to build turn lanes at the intersection of Shorter Avenue and Redmond Circle. The 2006 special purpose, local option sales tax package earmarked $1.47 million for the project.

Commissioners also are scheduled to go into a closed session to discuss a property matter.

The board caucuses at 5 p.m. and starts its regular session at 6 p.m. in City Hall, 601 Broad St. Both of those sessions are open to the public.

Click here for a link to the agenda packet.