Local zoning challenge unsuccessful
A group of Morgan County citizens who filed a lawsuit challenging the zoning for the Rivian electric vehicle manufacturing plant had their case dismissed in Superior Court Tuesday.
The case brought by Edward Clay, Candace Beam, Alan D. Jenkins, Felton Jenkins III, Deborah Crowe, and James Gunn went before the court on Nov. 17, 2023, as the defendants –Morgan County, State of Georgia, and Joint Development Authority of Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton Counties (JDA) – filed motions to dismiss the civil action.
According to Tuesday’s decision, the property in Morgan and Walton counties is owned by the State of Georgia and leased to the JDA for construction of the $5 billion Rivian facility.
The plaintiffs argue that the property, which was zoned Agricultural Residential under Morgan County ordinances excludes “heavy industrial use.”
In 2022, the JDA filed zoning applications to rezone the property but ultimately withdrew those requests before the Morgan County Board of Commissioners could vote on them. At that time, the state took over the property to bypass local zoning.
The plaintiffs, according to Superior Court Judge Stephen Bradley’s decision this week, asked the court to dismiss the case because, first, the complaint is the second for the same purpose, meaning it is prohibited under legal precedent.
Second, because the property is now owned by the state, sovereign immunity protects it from being “controlled or regulated by a ‘lesser sovereign’, in this case, a county.
Legal precedents were cited in the decision, which closed, “While the court may be sympathetic to local landowners adversely affected by the Rivian project, it is compelled to follow existing law. The General Assembly and the Supreme Court have declared that this type of economic development is valuable and, by not waiving sovereign immunity, outside the reach of local land use regulations.”
The JDA and the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) issued a joint statement on Bradley’s decision.
“Judge Bradley’s latest ruling reaffirmed what the state and JDA have long maintained: state-owned property is not subject to local zoning regulations. The state, JDA, and more importantly, taxpaying Georgians have again prevailed in overcoming the latest attempt by a few individuals who are committed to opposing this generational project that will benefit countless Georgians. It is a new year, and this ruling is a defining new chapter as we look towards a bright future of success with Rivian.”
Site grading work is underway at the Rivian site in Stanton Springs North with construction slated for early 2024.
The economic development project is the second largest in Georgia's history and hopes to produce 400,000 vehicles annually once operational. It will include a QuickStart facility to be constructed for training purposes.
The Georgia Department of Transportation plans to construct a new interchange on I-20 at Old Mill Road and a four-lane frontage road running parallel to the interstate, which will connect Highway 278 to Old Mill Road.
The project will reportedly create 7,500 jobs along with its $5 billion investment. The GDEcD claims, that over the 25-year abatement period, Rivian will pay at least $300 million in PILOT/tax revenue payments.