McIntosh moves toward ‘reaffirming’ Sapelo zoning, then rethinks it

Update: The McIntosh County Commission on Monday voted unanimously to postpone the “reaffirmation“ of its zoning ordinance until after the Georgia Supreme Court issues its ruling in an upcoming case regarding an aborted referendum on Sapelo’s zoning.

McIntosh County appears poised to postpone a planned readoption of its controversial 2023 zoning code that allowed for larger houses to be built in Sapelo Island’s Hogg Hummock community and led to ongoing legal action against the county.

The county planning and zoning commission was scheduled to take up the issue on Tuesday, but on Friday the county commission announced a special called meeting for noon on Monday. On the agenda: a resolution to defer the reaffirmation of the zoning.

Cumming-based attorney Ken Jarrard, who represents the county in several ongoing lawsuits, said the county will likely postpone its action so as not to interfere with an upcoming Georgia Supreme Court case that will decide the fate of an aborted referendum on Sapelo’s zoning.

“Given the upcoming April 16 oral argument in the Georgia Supreme Court …, I think the Board of Commissioners is prepared to postpone the various public hearings related to the zoning code to ensure that nothing done at the local level negatively impacts receiving a final ruling from the Supreme Court in the case,” Jarrard wrote in an email to The Current.

He expects the commissioners to postpone the public zoning hearings until after the Supreme Court rules.

The McIntosh County Commission adopted the zoning for the Gullah-Geechee community of Hogg Hummock in September, 2023 despite fierce public opposition. Several Black residents quickly filed suit, claiming the new ordinance was discriminatory. The case is ongoing in McIntosh County Superior Court. The zoning, no longer in force due to an injunction, allowed houses on the island to double in size to 3,000 square feet. Residents fear it will lead to higher taxes and push them out of their ancestral Gullah-Geechee community.

In September 2024, county residents began early voting on a referendum aimed at repealing the new zoning, but Superior Court Senior Judge Gary C. McCorvey shut down the vote, agreeing with the county that zoning matters are not subject to referendums. Gullah Geechee residents of Sapelo appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, which is set to hear oral arguments April 16.

But with those cases looming, the county planned a vote to “reaffirm” the 2023 zoning. The planning and zoning commission has the item on its March 4 agenda.

Commissioner Kate Pontello Karwacki reassured residents about the reaffirmation, posting on Facebook, “Please be advised that this public hearing IS NOT for any changes OR modifications OR additions to the current zoning codes and ordinances. The typos will not even be corrected.

“This is simply as the notice states to reaffirm our current zoning codes and ordinances from the updates that were made in calendar year 2023.”

But opponents of the new zoning weren’t placated. They fear the reaffirmation is meant to belatedly cure mistakes the county made in adopting the ordinance in 2023, including barring the public from recording the commission meeting and failing to publish line-by-line changes in the ordinance for the public to examine before the commission voted.

“We think that this new attempt to pass the same zoning ordinance from 2023 is directed to our case, or in response to our case,” said Crystal McElrath, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center. SPLC along with Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore represent the nine Hogg Hummock residents who brought the zoning suit.

“The county can try to address the typographical and procedural issues from 2023, but what really matters is if they are willing to engage this community in a meaningful way and listen to what this community wants,” McElrath told The Current on Friday. “Members of the community have maintained all along that they are open to some type of increase in the square footage, but they want to be involved in crafting what the future changes might look like, and the county just refuses.”

Jarrard acknowledged the commission’s readoption of the County’s zoning code could impact both pending cases. 

County Commissioner Davis Poole declined to comment, referring The Current to Jarrard. Commissioner Roger Lotson did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Dana Braun, a Savannah-based attorney who is representing the residents in the referendum case said the commission’s apparent intent to delay until after the high court issues its decision would be the “better course.”

“Further, I hope it was not the intent of the Commissioners in proposing the ‘adoption/ratification/reaffirmation of the zoning ordinance and map’ to impact the pending appeal,” Braun wrote in an email.

One Hundred Miles is urging the commission to cancel rather than defer its vote.

“Deferring the vote simply sets later date for the same action,” said Executive Director Megan Desrosiers. “It sends the message that if the Supreme Court rules that the referendum can move forward, the commissioners are committed to supporting the old zoning ordinance despite the repeal referendum results. It’s a slap in the face to the voters and the residents of Hogg Hummock. The commissioners need to cancel the vote to reaffirm the ordinance. Let the court proceedings and the referendum play out. After the dust settles, the community must work together on an equitable zoning solution that protects the Gullah Geechee people of Hogg Hummock.”

Jazz Watts, a Sapelo descendant and justice strategist for One Hundred Miles, contemplated what it would mean for the county to drop its pursuit of the new zoning and work with Sapelo residents. Watts was on the island Oct. 19 for a festival celebrating Georgia’s Gullah Geechee community when an aluminum gangway collapsed at the ferry dock resulting in the deaths of seven people.

“They came there because of the culture, because of the community, because of the people,” Watts said. “Them dropping this would show that they are beginning to understand that, and they’re beginning to understand that the value is not in rezoning. The value is in recognizing the power of that culture and that it means a lot to the state of Georgia.”