We’ve blogged before about the controversy in Nash County swirling about the rezoning of property for the location of a Sanderson Farms chicken processing plant. Recently, the City of Wilson, a Nash County neighbor to the south, sued the County over the zoning of the 150 acres at issue.

According to business outlets, CEO Joe Sanderson, Jr. indicated this week that delays in the zoning process, accounted for in our earlier blog entry, may push the Company’s decision as to where it will build its “deboning” plant until later in 2011. According to Mr. Sanderson, assuming continued zoning delays in light of the City’s lawsuit, “2011 grain crop’s condition and future corn prices” will inform the Company’s decision whether and when to build Nash County.

We will continue to monitor.

Mike Thelen is a lawyer in Womble Carlyle’s Real Estate Litigation practice group. He regularly represents a wide variety of clients in land use and land development issues, from local governments to businesses, in both state and federal venues throughout North Carolina.