Jun. 21—Pilgrim's Pride has officially approached the Gadsden Airport Authority by letter about 88 acres of airport property for the construction of a "state-of-the-art" rendering plant.
The letter is dated June 16, and is the first formal request made public from the company related to buying or leasing the property, and requesting that it be rezoned from I-1 (light industrial) to I-2 (heavy industrial).
The authority didn't vote on the request and will have to meet to do so. Alabama's open meetings law requires that bodies such as the GAA give 24 hours notice before meetings are conducted.
Opponents of the plant say this is the first opportunity for a governing body to vote against the plant, and are marshaling people to urge authority members to do just that.
Both the airport authority and the City of Gadsden have maintained when asked by the opposition group to kill the project that nothing had come before them for a vote — that they had no opportunity to impact the proposed project.
Here's the airport authority's chance, opposition members say.
"If they vote against it, we're done," opposition attorney Christie Knowles said.
"As you are undoubtedly aware, Pilgrim's is interested in locating a new, state-of-the-art pet food ingredient plant upon 88 acres of land owned by the Gadsden Airport Authority at approximately 3900 Steele Station Road," the letter from the company to Chairman Harry McLendon reads.
The property, the letter says, recently was appraised at $12,500 per acre. "Pilgrim's is interested in either purchasing the tract for its total appraised value of $1,100,000, or, alternatively, entering into a 30-year ground lease (with rights of extension) for $55,000 per year (payable in quarterly increments)."
Further in the process, the letter states, Pilgrim's will provide a more formal letter of intent "leading to the appropriate transactional documents."
Because Pilgrim's does not own the property, the letter states, it is asking the GAA to do two things:
"Authorize your consultant(s) to work with us in securing from the Federal Aviation Administration both a Form 7460 and a release of the property.
"Execute the enclosed Authorization Form to allow Pilgrim's to see an I-2 zoning of the property. If we buy the property, then it must be rezoned before we purchase it."
According to the letter, there will be other contingencies to moving forward toward a purchase or lease. Pilgrim's has to get all appropriate air and water permits, storm water permits, a wastewater allocation, access which allows truck use, statutory incentives from local or state entities and, presumably, easements.
The letter says the company is in the process now of securing Alabama Department of Environmental Management permits.
In an online update for opposition group members, Knowles said this is a big deal.
"It's Pilgrim's Pride coming out of the dark and into the light," she said.
Knowles maintained that the company would not ask for this action by the GAA if it was not sure that it has the votes to get what it's asking for.
She said the legal team has a strategy to deal with this development. The City of Gadsden is under a preliminary injunction from Etowah County Circuit Judge George Day not to interpret its zoning laws to allow a rendering plant on the airport property currently zoned for light industrial use, or to issue a building permit for it the property.
Asked if Pilgrim's Pride is violating that order with this request, Knowles indicated she expects the company to argue that it is not asking for anything barred by the order — that it is seeking rezoning, not to locate in the I-1 zone.
Knowles and Joshua Sullivan represent Dynamic Collision in a lawsuit that challenges the proposed location of a rendering plant in I-1 zoning. The industry is located alongside the property identified as the proposed rendering plant site.
More than 20 nearby property owners — some represented by attorney Phil Williams, some by Knowles —have been allowed to intervene in the Dynamic Collision lawsuit.
After sending the letter to the GAA chairman last week, Pilgrim's also filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit, saying none of the named defendants could protect its interests in the lawsuit, which ultimately wants to stop the company's plans to locate a plant on Steele Station Road altogether.
Pilgrim's was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, as the City of Gadsden, Gadsden Water Works and Gadsden-Etowah Industrial Development Authority were, although company representatives have been asked for material in discovery, and for depositions.
The motion to intervene says the company's limited involvement thus far had limited its ability to protect its interests, and notes that " Pilgrim's Pride's interests in the subject property is the bedrock of this litigation."
That case is slated for a hearing in July.
Contact Gadsden Times reporter Donna Thornton at 256-393-3284 or [email protected].
___
(c)2021 The Gadsden Times, Ala.
Visit The Gadsden Times, Ala. at www.gadsdentimes.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
