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Bibb County crews removing dirt from a Liberty Church Road site have been dumping the surplus at a potential industrial site at Sardis Church Road.

The dirt is being stored on property that's part of the so-called Copus Connector, a proposed industrial site in south Bibb County.

County crews have been digging a second storm-water retention pond off Liberty Church Road in order to alleviate flooding concerns in the area, Bibb County Commission chairman Larry Justice said Friday .

The pond will be the second the county has dug in the area; the first was created off Jones Road following the 1994 flood.

Plans are to finish the retention pond as soon as possible because state and federal funds have been made available for the project, Justice said.

"The dirt has to get out of there so we can get the funding from the Department of Community Affairs," he said.

The dirt will more than likely be used by the industrial authority to help build an entrance way to the future industrial site at Sardis Church Road, south of the Hartley Bridge Road exit of Interstate 75.

The county's industrial authority has not finished purchasing the land, however, said Jean King, administrator for the authority.

The authority has put down an $80,000 option on a number of tracts totaling more than 300 acres. The option on the land does not expire until June 1.

King does not believe the authority will finalize plans before that date.

In the meantime, county crews will continue to dump dirt at the site, Justice said, because the county has that authority. He believes the purchase will go through and the dirt will help prepare the site for development.

"The deal is about finished, I believe," Justice said. "We'll dump the dirt there so that we can finish the pond."

Once the pond near Liberty Church Road is built, crews will go back to the Jones Road site and expand the area. The county believes the ponds will alleviate erosion and runoff caused by heavy rains.