A hearing has been set in the Atlantic Waste Services lawsuit that claims the Bryan County’s ordinance regarding landfills is unconstitutional.
County attorney John Harvey said Tuesday the hearing, regarding cross motions for summary judgment, will go before Chief Judge David Cavendar at 9 a.m. May 1 in Bryan County Superior Court.
Summary judgment is a decision made on the basis of statements and evidence presented without a trial.
“Atlantic Waste filed a motion for summary judgment contending that our ordinance regarding landfills is unconstitutional,” Harvey told Bryan County Commissioners during their regular meeting.
“We filed a cross motion to say that it is (constitutional), and (Cavendar) will hear arguments that day, make a decision one way or the other and from there, the case will likely be appealed to the (Georgia) Supreme Court.”
The lawsuit was filed by the Pooler-based solid waste company on Jan. 11, 2012, after the commissioners denied in December 2011 a request from the company for text amendments to the county’s ordinances regulating waste management districts.
The company was looking to build a 268-acre landfill on about 1,100 acres it owns in Black Creek community in North Bryan. The amendments Atlantic Waste was seeking sought would have allowed a landfill to be built on a county road, something that is currently prohibited, and would have lessened the required setbacks between a landfill and a water source from 1,000 feet to 500 feet. It also would have allowed a waste management district to be built in a wetlands area.

Read more in the April 13 edition of the News.