Snellville extends environmental deadline for 2218 Scenic Highway sale to allow new remediation test

The Snellville City Council on June 8 approved an amendment to the purchase-and-sale agreement for 2218 Scenic Highway, a former gas station the city bought in 2024 as part of a redevelopment assemblage.

City Manager Matt Pepper told the council the original agreement required the seller to deliver a Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) "no further action" letter by Dec. 31, 2025. A prior remediation technique (high-vacuum recovery) did not achieve the contaminant reductions needed to satisfy EPD, so the seller’s environmental consultant proposed a different intervention — an in-situ chemical oxidation pilot test — to begin later this summer.

Council voted 6-0 to amend the deadline to June 30, 2027 to allow time for the pilot test and follow-up monitoring. Pepper said the change was to permit the seller and consultant to pursue the remediation approach in hopes of obtaining the EPD clearance needed for redevelopment. Council did not discuss specific cost-sharing changes or liability shifts in the public record at this meeting; the amendment as presented extends only the remediation timeline.