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Landowner appeals sewage plant bonds
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The Georgia Court of Appeals is being asked to stop the issuance of the revenue bonds needed by the Liberty County Development Authority to build a $30 million wastewater treatment plant in East Liberty.
CMJ Investments, represented by its agent, J. Allen Davis, had unsuccessfully petitioned Liberty County Superior Court Judge D. Jay Stewart not to validate the bonds in an eight-page filing. That document said the bonds were unnecessary and that the authority's requests for proposals were not independently, properly or adequately developed and advertised.
The petition also includes other allegations concerning the bonds.
Stewart heard the action, including the answer filed by the LCDA without a jury and on June 23 signed a 13-page order allowing the bond issue.
After meetings with the development authority, Allen and other stakeholders in the East Liberty area, CMJ Investments gave official notice of its appeal to the Court of Appeals, seeking to overturn Stewart's order.
The Court of Appeals sets its own schedule, but suits such as this one which involve government entities are to be handled as "expeditiously as is reasonably possible," according to Georgia law.
The development authority is scheduling a meeting for Aug. 6 or 7 at which its design-build firm, CH2MHill, will present options to allow the LCDA to choose plans that will cost less, get the plant into operation sooner and/or provide for economical expansion when needed.
Authority members and consultants have consistently said that delays in construction will increase the cost.

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