Plains Grains v. Power Company
Land Use and Environmental Law, Zoning and Subdivision Disputes
McGarvey Law successfully blocked the construction of two controversial coal-fired power plants near Great Falls, representing the Helena-based Montana Environmental Information Center and about 40 landowners who opposed the project. At the request of a developer, Cascade County moved to rezone 668 acres from farmland to heavy industrial use so a power plant could be constructed on the land. MEIC and the landowners sued Cascade County, alleging illegal spot zoning. The county planning department acknowledged that the operation of a power plant was out of character with the neighboring agricultural land, but approved the rezoning anyway. The Montana Supreme Court ruled in favor of MEIC and the neighboring landowners because the requested heavy industrial use differed significantly from the current agricultural uses, the area to be rezoned was relatively small, and the benefits would accrue to a single landowner.
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