The Atlantic City Council will enter into a closed session near the end of their regularly scheduled meeting next Wednesday, to discuss legal matters pertaining to the POET, LLC Ethanol Transfer Station. According to the Council’s agenda, Mayor Dave Jones requested the session with City Attorney Dave Wiederstein, to discuss possible litigation relative to the transfer station.

This past Tuesday evening, the Atlantic Planning and Zoning Commission met in a regular session and discussed the POET situation. Zoning Administrator John Lund and members of the commission were not at all happy with POET for beginning work on the ethanol transfer station without first having consulted with the City. The issues of contention boiled down to public safety and wear and tear on City streets.

The only communication the company had, which was nearly a year ago, was with Atlantic Fire Chief Mark McNees, and that was with regard to the safety precautions the company said it would have in-place. Those precautions included four spill pits underneath the rail cars as they were being loaded with fuel from tractor trailers which will be coming to Atlantic from POET’s production facility in Coon Rapids.

Dave Wiederstein has indicated there isn’t much the City can do to stop or prevent work from continuing on the project, but Mayor Jones said at the P-and-Z meeting, that the City wasn’t done exploring its options on how to deal with the issue. Now it appears the track may lead to a legal resolution. The Atlantic City Council meeting begins at 5:30-p.m., on Sept. 18th.