Motorists traveling on South Jefferson Street might have noticed in recent weeks a lot of ground work being done between Town Creek and the street in front of the old Kroger building.

The City Council recently turned over the building to the Athens-Limestone Public Library for renovation into a new library, but the landscaping work out front has nothing to do with that effort, according to Water/Wastewater Department Manager John Stockton.

“We have water and sewer lines under there and the accepted practice is usually to spray Round Up for the weeds and keep it mowed every few weeks, but we wanted to help beautify the area,” said Stockton.

He said Water Department employees are also responsible for landscaping and flower plantings near the city’s water tanks.

“With that spot in front of the Kroger building we wanted to do it similar to the triangle at Brownsferry and Green streets,” said Stockton.

Aiding in the project is the use of discarded railroad ties.

“The railroad is replacing the ties and they told us we could have all we wanted that were usable for landscaping,” said Stockton.

Stockton said the plans for landscaping the strip of land, on which a car lot stood for years, was “in the works” before the city allocated the Kroger building to the library.