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Mike Hashem, owner of the 26-acre Siskiyou Square on Northeast 82nd Avenue near Madison High School, says he’s willing to do whatever he can to take care of elevated methane levels a methane gas leak on his property.

A Department of Environmental Quality study completed less than a year ago revealed on Hashem’s property line, located near adjacent properties. The agency has now asked Hashem to install a new methane gas monitoring and extraction system.

Coincidentally, Hashem’s actions coincide with renewed interest from developers.

Hashem has owned the former landfill for 14 years, and has come close to signing development deals in the past. (Wal-Mart expressed interest in the property in 2006 — a development proposal the property’s broker Dennis Randazzo characterizes as “infamous” due to the rancour it created at the time.) Now, smaller developers have expressed interest in the property, but the methane gas leak is creating a stink.

“We’ve done everything responsible we can do,” Hashem said. “So what more can we do?” Though he wants the property to seem attractive to prospective tenants, such as Pasadena-based Goals Soccer, he’d rather not spend the $200,000 necessary for the upgrades to the site – money he says he doesn’t have right now.

is a company that specializes in developing soccer facilities. The company’s owner, Les Allan, has been eyeing four to five acres of Siskiyou Square for the past year. But he says he’s worried about the methane gas leak, even if he doesn’t think it will affect his project.

But before too much work can be done on the project, the Save NE 82^nd Avenue Coalition will hold an informative community town hall to discuss the leak. The townhall will take place on August 19.