5 West Valley View, Avondale, Arizona, Tuesday, July 10, 2012


Fuel spill closes I-10 to Loop 101 ramps View report


Tolleson were closed for 3½ hours Thursday because of a fuel spill from a semi-truck.


The incident occurred about 11 a.m. after the commercial vehicle spilled an estimated 150 gallons of diesel fuel, said George Good, Tolleson’s fire chief. Crews from the Arizona Department of Transportation were called to the scene to clean up the mess, Good said. The northbound ramps were reopened to traffic after


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www.westvalleyview.com Printed as a public service by West Valley View 932-1154 Tolleson 9250 W. Washington 936-9020 Ramps from Interstate 10 to northbound Loop 101 in


the cleanup was completed about 2:30 p.m., said Officer Carrick Cook, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The incident began when the truck driver called to report he was spilling fuel onto the roadway, Carrick said. About 100 remaining gallons also were removed from the fuel tank of the vehicle. The semi was not involved in an accident with other


vehicles and there were no reported injuries, officials said.


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THE EASTMIN GIN, located along Miller Road near the Buckeye Irrigation District Canal in Buckeye, will be demolished. The gin, which was built in 1928, is structurally unsound and has been home to a large pigeon population, which poses a health hazard.


Eastman Gin to be destroyed


by Sara Clawson staff writer


A historic Buckeye landmark will soon be demolished. On July 3, the Buckeye Town Council approved the destruction and removal of the Eastman Gin, which was built in 1928 and remained in operation until 2005, said Larry Harmer, town planning manager. The town acquired the property in February 2008 for $2.1 million and there was talk of turning the area into a heritage park. The town will spend an amount not to exceed $70,000 for its destruction and removal, according to a staff report.


The gin is located on 13.9 acres south of Baseline Road at the northwest corner of Miller Road and the Buckeye Irrigation District Canal. It has been fenced off from the public for some time. It was built in several phases and generally not to any adopted building codes because of state agricultural exemptions, Harmer wrote in his staff report. The Eastman Gin had been structurally compromised when the equipment was removed from the interior of the building and a local pigeon population has adopted the structure as its home and breeding area, constituting a significant health hazard, he wrote. Councilman Robert Garza, a fifth-generation Buckeye


native, said he was disappointed the town could not find a feasible way to save the historic structure. “When are we going to see a project like this carried through for the preservation of our heritage?” he said. Furthermore, Garza said the town talks about preserving its past and takes great steps to appreciate its history but drops the ball in actually accomplishing those goals.


down that were supposed to become something — the Raney house, etc., etc. — when are we going to hold onto something? “That’s my question to whoever can answer it: When are we going to hold onto something or we just need to erase that part on the booklet. I feel a little disappointed that we set out to do this, that we even spent monies there and now we’re not going to stick with it,” he said. Saving the Eastman Gin presented too much liability to


the town, Harmer said. Building officials and risk managers evaluated the structure and did analysis on how and if the building could be saved, he said. “The costs were exceedingly high, they were in excess of $1 million,” Harmer said. “The building has structural problems. It is a liability to the town in its current position; even if it was cyclone fenced as it is now and left standing, it would be a liability because it’s almost impossible to keep vandals or intruders out of a structure like that.” It’s too late to save the cotton gin, but Harmer said the


“There’s a number of things in the past that were torn


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town is working on creating a downtown overlay district, which would help keep Buckeye’s historic buildings intact.


Sara Clawson can be reached by email at sclawson@ westvalleyview.com.


“It takes a great step forward in starting to look at ways we can start to preserve downtown structures,” he said.


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