In a unanimous decision issued Tuesday, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the right of McIntosh County residents to vote directly to repeal a controversial zoning decision that would allow larger houses in a traditional Gullah-Geechee enclave on Sapelo Island.
The zoning ordinance that county commissioners approved in September 2023 would allow the construction of houses of up to 3,000 square feet in the modest, 434-acre Hogg Hummock neighborhood. Long-time residents, many of them descendants of people enslaved on Georgia’s sea islands, feared the resulting gentrification and higher property taxes would drive them out of their ancestral homes and usher in wealthy developers. The county supported the larger homes to expand its tax base.
Early voting was already underway last year ahead of the scheduled Oct. 1 referendum when a Superior Court judge granted the county’s request to shut down the special election.
In Tuesday’s opinion, authored by Justice John J. Ellington, the court concluded that the lower court erred in finding that the zoning ordinance was not subject to the referendum procedure of the Home Rule Provision of the Georgia Constitution. That referendum procedure allows citizens to force a direct vote on an issue if they collect a sufficient number of signatures from registered voters in the county.
A McIntosh County petition drive had succeeded in collecting signatures, modeling its efforts on nearby Camden County’s referendum that in 2022 nixed a planned commercial spaceport that many saw as a boondoggle. The Camden referendum was also challenged by its county, though in that case after the vote was complete, and that referendum was also ultimately upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court.
In Tuesday’s opinion, the Supreme Court also upheld the decision to prevent the enforcement of the new Hogg Hummock zoning while the referendum was being litigated. A Superior Court-ordered injunction from November has held new buildings in Hogg Hammock to the old standard of 1,400 square feet.
Attorney Dana Braun, who represented the named plaintiffs in the case — Sapelo residents Barbara Bailey, Christopher Bailey, and Stanley Walker — sees Tuesday’s decision as a win for good government.
“Citizens that are concerned about an ordinance or an action of a county commission that affects them have a right of redress of this referendum process, which is not easy, but it’s there for concerned citizens to attempt to address,” Braun said.
McIntosh County Commissioner Roger Lotson, who voted against the zoning and supported the referendum, welcomed the court’s opinion.
“Now the citizens will have an opportunity to weigh in on this decision,” said Lotson, whose district includes Sapelo. “And I always support the concept that citizens have an opportunity to weigh in on decisions.”
McIntosh County Commission Chair Kate Pontello Karwacki, who supported the new zoning and rejected the legitimacy of the referendum, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Attorney Ken Jarrard, who represented McIntosh County, said, “We are obviously disappointed by the order but respect the ruling of the Georgia Supreme Court.”
It’s not yet determined when the referendum will be held. The county has 10 days to seek reconsideration from the Supreme Court. If it doesn’t, or if that request is denied, the Supreme Court will formally instruct the lower court to proceed based on its decision.
“We just await further order from courts of competent jurisdiction, so nothing happens automatically,” said Jason Nix, attorney for the McIntosh County Board of Elections.
Although voting was interrupted last year after more than 800 voters cast their ballots, the referendum is likely to get a fresh start.
“I’m quite certain that we would not be picking it up from the middle unless the judge directly orders us to do that,” Nix said. “That is not normally how these issues work in Georgia when it comes to election issues.”
Josiah “Jazz” Watts, a Gullah Geechee descendant and community leader who also works on environmental justice issues for One Hundred Miles, noted that since the effort to rezone the Hogg Hummock neighborhood began more than two years ago, the islanders have not only been fighting legal battles with their local government but have also suffered the tragic dock collapse that killed seven people last October as they departed from a Gullah-Geechee cultural festival.
“The community has been through so much, and we just need, the county, our commissioners — and we have two newer commissioners now — and I just hope that they take this as an opportunity to understand that the community shouldn’t be rezoned,” Watts said. “They should be trying to protect us. They shouldn’t be stripping out historic protection, but they should be doing more to protect the community, to support it.”
In a separate, ongoing lawsuit, nine Black residents of Sapelo are suing the county in McIntosh Superior Court on the grounds that the zoning measure was unjust and discriminatory. Attorneys from Southern Poverty Law Center and Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore are representing the residents. That case has been delayed repeatedly and is currently awaiting the judge’s order on the county’s motion to dismiss, said Miriam Gutman, senior attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center.