Ottawa City Council approves land swap with Diocese of Peoria

Ottawa’s name should be off of the EPA Superfund website sometime soon after the Diocese of Peoria agreed to a land swap with the city, approved by the City Council on Tuesday night.

A patch of land near Marquette Academy Elementary, owned by Ottawa, has been swapped for a patch of land to the west of Gould Stadium. Mayor Dan Aussem said this will allow Ottawa to sign on to a covenant with the EPA.

“The EPA has been wanting to get some environmental covenants passed to promise nobody will dig deeper than 4 feet,” Aussem said. “For whatever reason, the diocese was reluctant to get into that.”

Aussem said the city doesn’t have any permanent plans for the land but preliminary discussions have centered around using it as a dog park.