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ZEBULON - Pike County was served with a civil action in Superior Court by Attorney Newton Galloway of Galloway & Lyndall, LLP of Griffin and John Green of Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP of Atlanta on December 12, 2025. The action is a Petition for Review to Superior Court from Denial of a Special Use Permit and for Declaratory Judgment regarding the special use for the property on Prayer Mountain by Talking Rock Cabin at Prayer Mountain, LLC out of Sandy Springs and Fountain Grove Springs, LLC out of Linton, Indiana.

Background and History

Talking Rock owns approximately 760 acres on Prayer Mountain with 7 acres of this property being tied to this application. Fountain Springs is in the business of extracting, bottling natural spring water, and selling it commercially. According to the court document, Fountain Springs has identified several natural springs with “sufficient quantities” of spring water that can be extracted “without depleting the natural spring’s water flow.”

According to OCGA 44-8.3, Georgia law allows the owner of a non-navigable stream to have exclusive possession of the stream and prevents the government from interfering with the owner’s lawful use. According to OCGA 12-5-31, Georgia law does not require a permit to withdraw less than 100,000 gallons of natural spring water per day on a monthly average from a non-navigable stream.

According to the minutes and documentation provided to the Commissioners from the October 9, 2025 Planning and Zoning Board Meeting, staff recommended approval with an annual business license and a copy of all the inspections and permits from the Department of Agriculture each year, and a paved access from Hwy 19 to the truck loading area that goes through the development permit process for the county.

The Planning and Zoning Committee approved the above two conditions as well as three others including the incorporating of monitoring and fluctuating water reports that the applicant advised would be provided to the county on a monthly basis, that a hydrologic or geological study shall be prepared by the applicant and reviewed by the Flint River Keepers as well as the Pike County Water and Sewage Authority providing an opinion to Pike County Planning and Development Office for Review prior to the issuance of a building permit, and that county road would be used to access the commercial part of the property with the driveway coming from Hwy 19 only.

The public hearing was conducted with the final decision being postponed until the November 12, 2025 meeting of the Pike County Board of Commissioners.

According to the minutes of the November 12, 2025 meeting, Commissioner Ken Pullin read the following statement after which the motion was made to deny the application. “The very nature of an application for a special use permit indicates that the proposed use is not a permitted use in the zoning district where the proposed use is located or will take place. In this case, the bulk sale of spring water is not a permitted use. Therefore, an application for a special use permit was required to even consider the possible bulk sale of water. The Board received a lot of information related to the proposed bulk sale of spring water that will be from water source(s) on the subject property. There is much concern about whether the proposed special use for the bulk sale of spring water will be detrimental to the use or development of adjacent properties, or to the general neighborhood and whether it will adversely affect the health or safety of Pike County residents. The Board received conflicting information regarding these issues from the applicant versus the opponents. Based on the growth projections for Pike County and the known challenges regarding countywide water services and quality, there is a sufficient basis to find that the proposed bulk sale of spring water at this location could be detrimental to the use and development of adjacent properties, to the general neighborhood, and, that the proposed use could adversely affect the availability of water service and water quality in this southern portion of Pike County. In addition, there is a potential safety hazard related to the proposed ingress and egress of the delivery trucks at the specified location.”

Pullin’s motion to deny was based on the possibility that the proposed use “could be detrimental to the use and development of adjacent properties, 2) it could adversely affect the health of Pike County citizens due to possible negative affect on water service and quality in Pike County; and, 3) the possible hazard from the vehicular movement, namely the ingress and egress of delivery trucks, to the location.”

The motion to deny this application was passed in a 4-1 vote.

Petition Filed in Pike County Superior Court

Talking Rock Cabin at Prayer Mountain, LLC and Fountain Grove Springs, LLC have filed a Petition for Review to Superior Court from Denial of a Special Use Permit and for Declaratory Judgement against Pike County.

The basis of the complaint is that the denial was based on the amount of public participation in opposition to the project, that the county violated the Equal Protection Clauses of the Georgia and US Constitutions because it had approved a previous application at Lifsey Springs for the same size and development as this application on August 26, 2025, and asserts that this denial is a taking of the petitioner’s rights to the exclusive possession and use of natural spring water located on their property.

Fountain Springs has requested the Court find in its favor and force the county approve the application based on this denial being an unconstitutional taking of the value of the water located on the applicant’s property, that the denial was a violation of applicant’s rights with regard to being the owners of a non-navigable stream (OCGA 44-8-3), that the county has no power to compel or interfere with the owners’ lawful use of the stream except to restrain nuisances, that the natural springs fall within the state’s definition of surface water according to OCGA 12-5-31(a)(5), and that the applicant can withdraw up to 100,000 gallons a day on a monthly average without a permit based on OCGA 12-5-31(a)(5).

Fountain Springs is also asking the Court to award any other relief that the Court decides is “just, property, and appropriate” according to the facts and evidence presented in the complaint.

Closing

The county will be required to file an answer to this complaint within 30 days of December 12, 2025, which is the date that the county received the complaint.

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