As electric vehicle maker Rivian prepares to begin vertical construction on its $5 billion Georgia factory, a legal battle over the plant’s zoning and permits rages on, potentially jeopardizing the project.
Six people who either own property near or live near the 1,800-acre project site filed a notice to appeal Tuesday after a Morgan County judge dismissed their lawsuit earlier in January. The group accused the state of assuming control of the property to circumvent local zoning codes and land disturbance permits. The local judge ruled Jan. 2 that local zoning does not apply to government-owned land, even if it’s being leased to a private company for economic development.
“While the Court may be sympathetic to local landowners adversely affected by the Rivian Project, it is compelled to follow existing law,” Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Judge Stephen A. Bradley wrote in his ruling. “... As such, the actions on the Rivian Project property are immune from any Morgan County land use regulation.”
John Christy, an Atlanta attorney representing the appellants, previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that state and local governments should not have unmitigated power to greenlight development projects on public property. If his clients win the appeal, Christy warns that California-based Rivian will have to return the land to the way it was — likely costing millions.
“They proceed at their own risk,” he said.
The state and development authority assisting with the Rivian project said the appeal continues to draw out a costly legal fight that lacks merit.
“This is another frivolous lawsuit by the opposition that continues to waste taxpayer dollars. The Court has ruled on this matter. The Rivian project is underway and bringing thousands of jobs to Georgia.”
Rivian’s EV factory, the state’s second-largest economic development project, is slated for rural land in southern Morgan and Walton counties, located roughly an hour east of Atlanta. The project site was assembled by the Joint Development Authority of Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton Counties (JDA), a government entity with the power to issue bonds and other incentives.
The land was zoned for agricultural use, not industrial. The JDA initially filed rezoning requests that were set to go before the Morgan County Commission in March 2022. But the Georgia Department of Economic Development stepped in and assumed control of the project a month before the scheduled vote and withdrew the rezoning requests.
Christy’s clients filed their Morgan County lawsuit soon after. A nearly identical lawsuit was filed in Fulton County, where the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s offices are based.
The Fulton case is also locked up in the Court of Appeals because a local judge ruled in April that the plaintiffs will need to pay upfront nearly $365,000 to cover the government’s legal costs and attorney’s fees under what’s known as a petition for bond. It’s a requirement designed to discourage frivolous lawsuits against local and state governments. The appeals court is reviewing the petition bond and whether it is warranted in this case.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
The state and JDA contended the Morgan County case was also frivolous, but Bradley disagreed and allowed the litigation to continue unimpeded — even though it still resulted in the defendants prevailing.
The Rivian project has been the focus of several other lawsuits, including several surrounding the $1.5 billion incentive package that state and local officials used to entice the company to Georgia. The state prevailed in those cases, preserving most of the offered tax breaks.
Due in part to the numerous legal actions, Rivian’s construction timeline has been delayed. The factory was initially pitched to open in 2024, but that has been pushed back to 2025, and a new line of crossovers are expected to roll off assembly lines in 2026.
The site has been graded and transferred to Rivian, but a groundbreaking ceremony has yet to take place. Company officials said they expect vertical construction to begin on the 16 million-square-foot factory in coming months. Cox Enterprises, which owns the AJC, also owns about a 4% stake in Rivian.
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