Hinesville City Council approved extending the sale of alcohol on Saturday nights into Sunday mornings to match the same hours that occur on Monday through Friday.
Alcohol will now be sold until 3 a.m. Monday through Sunday. District 3 Councilman David Anderson Jr. cast the lone nay vote during Thursday’s council meeting, saying he did not have a problem with the ordinance as it was.
Sewage leak
During Mayor Pro-Tem Charles Frasier’s report, Public Works Director Guan Ellis informed the council of a raw-sewage spill that occurred from 1:30-9:30 p.m. Nov. 30.
According to a notice in the Coastal Courier, the “wastewater spill occurred through a maintenance access hole due to a sewer force main issue.”
About 325,000 gallons of raw sewage made its way into Peacock Creek near a utility access road behind Whits End in Hinesville, according to the notice.
“If you’ve ever experienced anything like that, it’s very serious business,” Ellis said.
CH2M is working to add a new, parallel line to the sewer system, according to Ellis, to add a layer of redundancy, because it is possible that another spill will happen again on the current line. A similar spill occurred in October 2014, according to Ellis.
Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division is requiring the city to monitor the area for a year.
De-annexation
The council was presented a proposal from owners of four tracts of land in west Hinesville, who are requesting that their land, labeled as conservation, be de-annexed from the city.
The de-annexation would alleviate some of the taxes the owners would pay for the land, which cannot be developed because they are deemed conservation areas, according to Mayor Jim Thomas.
The de-annexation would leave behind incorporated islands that are considered to be inside the city limits. Assistant City Manager Kenneth Howard said there was “no prohibition against that as far as the law is concerned.”
The decision will be voted on at the next council meeting, scheduled for Dec. 17.
Other business
The council approved two loan applications to the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority. The city is submitting the applications because the GEFA is offering principal forgiveness on loans up to $500,000 at approximately 40 percent of the project cost, according to the agenda.
“That’s a good deal for the city,” Thomas said.
The Hinesville projects are both conservation-based, according to the agenda. One is the replacement of an existing pump station and an automated well system, along with a fixed-based meter-reading system. The other is a reuse extension to serve “planned developments, a large commercial tract and a large subdivision,” according to the agenda.
The projects’ estimated costs are $1,457,529 with an estimated total principal forgiveness of $663,480.
Also, the interest rate is only 1 percent on the loan, said Marcus Sack with P.C. Simonton & Associates, who presented the agenda item.