Three South Fulton residents are suing the city of College Park and NextEra Energy Resources, the company that owns a local property that would house a lithium-ion battery energy storage plant.
Attorney Linda Dunlavy filed a lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court on Oct. 7 on behalf of Carmen Miller, Steven Mack and Norman North who wish to stop the project from moving forward.
They are among numerous longtime residents of a quiet community in South Fulton who worry about the possibility of explosions or fire at the facility after it’s completed. The massive chemical plant fire in September in Conyers, Ga., that spread chlorine through the air for miles increased those fears.
Miller, Mack and North’s properties are adjoined to the 62-acre site where the facility containing 250 megawatts of lithium-ion energy storage will be constructed. The property is located in College Park and borders South Fulton.
The lawsuit states that Miller, Mack and North’s properties would be “irreparably harmed” if a March rezoning by College Park were to remain in effect.
“…If the rezoning is upheld, they stand to lose their quiet enjoyment of their property and will suffer diminution in property values,” the lawsuit reads.
“We’re asking the court to declare the alleged zoning approval as null and void,” Dunlavy told SaportaReport.
Rezoning allowing the project to move forward was approved by College Park city council during a regular meeting on March 18, without a public hearing or public notice. The rezoning item was added to the meeting agenda at the start of the council meeting with vague information and was accompanied by a $1.6 million payment to College Park from NextEra.
Below in the Voices of College Park Podcast, residents express fears and frustrations over the NextEra Energy Resources project.
Because the rezoning measure was previously denied in August 2023, Councilman Roderick Gay has said that the March approval was a renewed motion from last year’s meeting, making a new public notice and hearing unnecessary.
City Council approved the rezoning over the objections of Mayor Bianca Motley Broom, who contacted the Georgia Attorney General’s Office about her concerns.
The residents’ lawsuit asks the court to find that College Park’s rezoning approval was “unconstitutional” and denied Miller, Mack and North due process. The lawsuit alleges that the rezoning violated College Park’s own zoning ordinance and Georgia zoning procedures laws.
The plaintiffs are requesting that College Park be barred from approving permits to NextEra related to land disturbance development and construction of the battery energy storage plant and that NextEra be prohibited from initiating permit applications.
During the summer, a GoFundMe campaign was started by Mose James IV, Paul Loveless and Tiffany Patterson to pay legal fees for the lawsuit.
Dunlavy said that if Miller, Mack and North win the lawsuit she will ask the court to require the defendants to pay the plaintiffs compensation for their attorneys fees.
Before filing the lawsuit, Dunlavy sent a demand letter to the city of College Park attorney Winston Denmark requesting a new public hearing for rezoning of the NextEra property which would allow for adequate public notice and comment from the community, she said.
There was no response, Dunlavy added.
Denmark and City Manager Emmanual Adediran did not return phone calls from SaportaReport regarding the lawsuit.
Sara Cassidy, a spokesperson for NextEra Energy Resources, said via email that the company does not comment on pending litigation.
Hi, please give Mrs. Connie and Tiffany my email address and from there we will exchange numbers. I live in South Fulton and had no idea this was going on. Thank you.