Drainage issues has led city officials to further investigate the abandonment of Osborne Street.

On Monday, Jamestown City Council tabled the resolution to abandon the paper street that is known as Osborne Street following comments made by several residents who spoke about drainage problems during a public hearing. The resolution was proposing to abandoning the paper street from the southern boundary of Wilton Avenue to the northern boundary of parcel 404.06-3-17 as shown on the official tax map of the city.

During the public hearing, five nearby residents spoke about the drainage problems and issues with large trees. One property owner talked about how a large limb from one of the trees fell on his shed. Steve Atwater, Colfax Street resident, said he is not opposed to taking ownership of the paper street that is next to his property, but he doesn’t want to deal with the maintenance issues and pay a higher property tax bill for acquiring the additional land.

George Spitale, At-Large councilman, said he has been to Osborne Street three to four times following rain and has witnessed the draining problems. He talked to Jeff Lehman, city public works director, about installing a larger drainage pipe to assist with the water problems. Spitale said the city has an obligation to fix the issue before transferring the paper street to nearby property owners. He proposed tabling the resolution until the issues can be resolved.

In April, the city Planning Commission approved the abandonment of Osborne Street. At the time, Lehman said it is an “oddball” paper street between Chambers and Wilton avenue the city has maintained for a number of years. He said the city was contacted by a property owner who wanted to buy a portion of the paper street, which led to all property owners along the street being contacted by city officials. He added that some of the property owners wanted to buy their portion of the paper street near their property and some did not. He added of the 370-foot paper street, city officials are proposing to sell 280-feet to nearby families.