Residents, public health expert urge more study of proposed bus depot and joint fire substation site

Residents and a public-health physician told the New Albany-Plain Local Board of Education on March 17 that the district should seek more local data before advancing a proposed transportation facility and joint fire substation on land donated by The New Albany Company.

Sandra Solano, a physician specializing in preventive medicine and public health and a Nottingham Trace resident, said the board should not rely solely on regulatory thresholds. “It is not enough to say that emissions meet regulatory limits,” Solano said, urging independent, local exposure modeling and proposing an Ohio State University capstone project to study community-specific air emissions.

Why it matters: The transportation facility proposal has prompted repeated community concern about air quality, traffic, property values and neighborhood character.…