Bloom Parham Secures Discretionary Review for Solar Farm Developer Wrongly Denied Permit

Bloom Parham recently secured discretionary review for a client who was denied a permit to develop a south Georgia solar farm. In this case, the zoning ordinance detailed specific factors for the County’s consideration when determining whether or not a solar farm permit would issue. Despite satisfying all criteria, the County denied the client’s permit application based on impermissible factors.

The Firm stepped in after the application was denied, filing a Petition for Review in the superior court under the Superior and State Court Appellate Practice Act. This newly-enacted statutory scheme has caused confusion among the lower courts, including in this case, as many of its provisions were misinterpreted and misapplied along the way to wrongly denying the Petition for Review.

After the superior court wrongly affirmed the permit denial, Bloom Parham applied to the Court of Appeals for discretionary review. Discretionary review is granted in a only a limited percentage of cases – approximately 10% to 20% by some metrics. And, for discretionary review to be granted, the applicant must convince the Court of Appeals that reversible error exists or the establishment of precedent on the subject is desirable.  Bloom Parham’s discretionary application was granted, and the case is now  pending before the Court of Appeals.

The Bloom Parham land use and appellate practice teams have collectively handled this matter, led by Simon Bloom, Kurt Kastorf, Andrea Pearson, Virginia Eith and Pierce Ostwalt.