LaGrange removes agricultural uses from industrial zoning to allow for Chinese sauce plant
Published 10:00 am Saturday, February 1, 2025
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After a second reading on Tuesday, the LaGrange City Council has approved a zoning change that will make way for a Chinese sauce company to come to LaGrange.
The long-planned Lee Kum Kee plant announced in June 2024, originally known as Project Soy Sauce, ran into some hurdles after the Georgia Legislature passed a bill that goes into effect in July 2025 that prohibits an adversarial country from owning agricultural land within 10 miles of a military installation.
LaGrange doesn’t really have a military installation, but we do have the Troup County Armory, which may or may not qualify under the statute.
The issue is that the proposed plant is in LaGrange’s Heavy Industrial zoning, which allows for agricultural uses and could potentially prohibit the development.
Rather than stymie the plant that has been in the works for eight years, and a $288 million investment, the city elected to remove agricultural uses from its industrial zoning.
City and state leaders also say the legislation never intended to include armories, so Senate Bill 420 is working through the state legislature to clarify the original bill.
Lee Kum Kee is already in the United States. They’ve been in California for 30 years. Their products are in most grocery stores. They make Asian sauces, oyster sauces, teriyaki sauces, all kinds of Asian sauces, not just soy sauce.
The LaGrange City Council unanimously approved the zoning change to remove agricultural uses from industrial zoning.
In other business, the council:
- Annexed and zoned property into the city on Stewart Road.
- Annexed and zoned property into the city on Hood Road.
- Amended the Unified Development Ordinance to clarify who may apply for a sign permit
- Held a first reading to modify block towing regulations
- Held a first reading to prohibit parking on a section of Smith Street. (The council previously mistakenly voted to prohibit the parking on Jan. 14, not realizing a first and second reading were required.)