Carroll County Chief Superior Judge John Simpson will preside over the civil case of one local business suing Carroll County.
The case involves, business owner John Paulk, who claims that the county zoning board and county commission mishandled the rezoning request for property that was originally zoned for agriculture use. Paulk wished to rezone the land for an event space complete with a shooting range and a sporting clay facility. The zoning request failed. Now PaulkÂ’s lawsuit says the zoning laws are ambiguous and should be interpreted differently.
Arguments were heard Thursday morning and a decision by the court will be made on January 11th. If the court rules in favor of Paulk, Carroll County would allegedly have to pay damages for two years of loss of profits or which the plaintiff estimates to be $3 million.
Though Judge Simpson is not supposed to preside over civil cases in 2019 due to different case assignments for the new year, it is likely that he will finish this case.
