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RH voters to decide Sunday package sales
buying beer
If Richmond Hill voters approve, stores there will be able to start selling alcoholic drinks just like their rural counterparts, sometime next year. - photo by Stock photo

Richmond Hill City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to let voters decide whether they want Sunday package sales of alcohol in the city limits.
Such sales became legal in January in unincorporated Bryan County after a 2014 referendum was approved by voters, and the sale of liquor by the drink on Sunday also is legal in both the county and in Richmond Hill.
Tuesday’s vote approved a resolution calling for a Nov. 3 referendum.
“We approved the process to be started last meeting,” City Manager Chris Lovell reminded council members. “This is the actual resolution to petition the elections board to put it on the ballot.”
New lift station funding approved
Council also voted Tuesday to approve a bid of $1.74 million by Jordan Construction of Hilton Head, South Carolina, to build an offsite sewage force main and pump station for Richmond Hill Plantation.
The project, which also eventually could help pipe reuse water to Sterling Links golf course, is being paid for by a Georgia Environmental Finance Authority loan.
That loan will be repaid by “growth payments,” according to Lovell, who was quizzed by council members John Fesperman and Johnny Murphy.
“Chris, if I understand it correctly, this will be completely paid back by permits associated with growth in that development?” Murphy asked.
“Not permit fees, per se, but specifically by fees to tie into this line,” Lovell answered. “It’s important to note none of our residents are picking up the tab for this. It’s totally paid by new development. If you moved here yesterday, then you’re not paying for it.”
The city is under an Environmental Protection Division mandate to build a new $22-million plus sewage treatment plant, expected to be completed this year. Although Richmond Hill currently doesn’t have to reuse treated wastewater from its plant, it will have to reuse water when the new plant expands from treating 3 million gallons per day to 4 million gallons per day.

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