McIntosh proposes new zoning for Sapelo

At a special called meeting, McIntosh County Commission on Thursday agreed on new limits on house sizes in the Hogg Hummock neighborhood on Sapelo Island.

By a 3-2 vote, the commission recommended a maximum size of 1,800 square feet under roof, a minimum size of 720 square feet under roof, and a maximum height of 35 feet. The draft measure now heads to the county zoning board for its approval, likely at its July meeting. From there the proposed zoning will head back to the commission for a final vote before going into effect. Read the draft here.

How we got here

The zoning battle over Hogg Hummock, one of the last intact Gullah Geechee communities in the U.S., began in September 2023, when the commission approved the construction of 3,000 square foot houses up to 37 feet tall. Longtime residents feared the resulting gentrification and the higher taxes that accompanied it would drive them out of their ancestral homes in favor of wealthy developers.

Residents mounted a petition drive that collected enough signatures to force the county to hold a referendum on the issue. But after early voting began in September 2024, the county sued to stop the vote. That case went to the Georgia Supreme Court, which upheld the referendum. In January, 85% of voters chose to overturn the controversial zoning.

In a separate lawsuit, Bailey et. al v. McIntosh County, nine Black residents of Sapelo sued the county in late 2023 on the grounds that the 2023 zoning measure was unjust and discriminatory. Attorneys from Southern Poverty Law Center and Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore represented the residents. A judge dismissed the suit after the referendum made parts of it moot. Plaintiffs declined to appeal.

Between the two lawsuits, McIntosh County has paid out more than $500,000 in legal fees, an issue voters may have weighed in the May commission praimary election. Chairwoman Kate Karwacki lost her race to remain on the commission. Roger Lotson, who represents Sapelo and who voted against the 2023 zoning change, retained his seat, beating Sapelo Island resident J.R. Grovner by 35 votes. Commissioner Davis Poole did not seek re-election.

While the referendum rejected the 2023 zoning, it did not authorize any zoning in its place. In March, the county held three “listening sessions” to get public input. A group of citizens, led by Hogg Hummock residents Grovner and Andy Desmond, also developed a zoning ordinance they submitted for consideration.

Commissioners were still wrangling over the size limits in the executive session held before the vote Thursday.

Support for the limits

Before the vote, Poole explained the requirement of a maximum of “1,800 square foot under roof.”

“Under roof refers to the total comprehensive measurement of all enclosed and covered surfaces with the exterior perimeter of the structure’s roof line, including nonlivable unconditioned areas like garages, carports, and covered porches,” he said as he proposed the zoning. “So, if you have a covered porch that is the width of the house, let’s call it 10 feet wide, 40 feet long, that’s 400 square foot, that would be counted as amongst the 1,800.”

The pre-2023 zoning allowed 1,400 square foot of heated and cooled space, which was difficult to enforce because porches could be enclosed after inspectors left.

For the height limit, the commission pointed to FEMA building codes as the driving factor. FEMA require houses to be out of the flood plain, adding height under the first floor and making it difficult to build a second floor, Commissioner Henderson Hope said after the meeting.

“All we did was adopt the FEMA code,” Hope said.

But Desmond sees unwanted wiggle room in the wording.

“If you allow a certain square footage, you’re creating a potential ambiguity, and when you’re saying under the roof, do you mean that it can be that amount of square footage on each level?” he said after the meeting. “I did not understand a word they said, other than 35 feet.”

Desmond advocated for limiting the footprint of the building to a maximum 1,400 square feet, and allowing only one story to eliminate compliance loopholes and make for easy assessor inspections.

“Our draft said it shall be no more than 14 feet high,” he said, noting that none of the descendants’ homes on Sapelo are taller than 14 feet.

Desmond, who lives on Sapelo but is white, also sees an anti-Gullah Geechee motive in the proposed zoning.

“How incredibly remarkable that after all of the legal saga, all the millions spent, the earth-shaking 85-15 Referendum, and Kate Karwacki’s defeat at the polls two weeks ago, that this group of commissioners just won’t quit their gambit to force the Gullah Geechee off of Sapelo through vacation-home-friendly rezoning,” he wrote in an email to The Current after the meeting.

Process concerns

Thursday’s meeting was specially called with only a day’s notice, despite the fact that the county commission is scheduled to meet for its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday. That short notice meant many residents couldn’t make it. For Sapelo Islanders, even the 4 p.m. scheduling was inconvenient. The last ferry leaves the mainland for Sapelo at 5:30 p.m.

Only three Sapelo residents attended the meeting. One was Josiah “Jazz” Watts, a Gullah Geechee descendant and board member of Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society.

He said that residents had rejected the 2023 zoning not only because of the large houses it allowed, but also because they felt excluded from meaningful participation in the decision-making process. Ensuring proper processes was a focus of the Bailey v. McIntosh lawsuit.

“I would have hoped that people would have learned, you got to include the community, you got to give ample time for the community to be able to participate in the process fully,” Watts said after the meeting.

Carolyn Rader, who owns a small house on Sapelo, agreed. Rader is a professional planner who grew up on the island because her father directed the UGA Marine Institute on Sapelo.

“The whole notion of this not being inclusive in its development is the worst offense here,” she told The Current GA Friday.

Thursday’s special called meeting discussed a draft nobody had seen.

“Ideally, we would have seen a written draft beforehand, at least a week’s notice,” Watts said. “And then it provides people the opportunity to be able to really comment, to really process things, to really think about, you know, is this what I want?”

Commissioners said there was no draft to share — they instead made the noted changes including height and square footage in the Hog Hammock zoning ordinance as it existed before 2023 — and Commissioner Hope said they spent the bulk of the hourlong-plus executive session hashing out the zoning.

Closed session talks

Georgia law allows county commissions to meet in closed sessions to discuss only certain matters, generally described as pending litigation, real estate and personnel matters.

Zoning doesn’t fall into any of these categories.

McIntosh County Attorney Adam Poppell defended the commission’s use of the closed door session in this case, saying the commission “could talk to their lawyer about legal matters, pending or not, in executive session.”

“It’s our position that we can talk about any questions, legal questions that they (commissioners) have that apply to those original terms of settlement,” he said.

The county engaged in mediation with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which represented the plaintiffs in Bailey et. al v. McIntosh, but never reached a settlement. The case was dismissed in April.

Dana Braun, a Savannah-base attorney who successfully represented Sapelo residents in the Georgia Supreme Court case that reinstated the referendum in McIntosh disagreed with Poppell’s assessment.

“Given that all the litigation is over, I don’t know of any reason why zoning is not conducted in an open and public meeting,” Braun said.

Even if they closed to discuss a proper matter they should not have brought up the zoning during that meeting, Braun said.

The executive session didn’t sit right with Watts either.

“It just feels like they’re doing what they want to do,” he said. “That should’ve been a work session in front of the public.”

Georgia law allows the court to impose a civil or criminal fine of up to $1,000 for the first violation and $2,500 for subsequent violations in the same 12 months for anyone who conducts or participates in a meeting in violation of the Open Meetings Act.

Special called session

Commissioners offered several explanations for the hastily called meeting.

Hope said the meeting was held Thursday to allow the legally required meetings and public comment periods to be completed before Aug. 19 when the current building moratorium runs out. That moratorium was initially put in place following the January referendum, which left Hogg Hummock temporarily without zoning regulations.

Lotson said Thursday’s meeting was lengthy and if added to the regular business coming up on Tuesday it would have made for an unwieldy agenda.

Poole said he wanted to be there for the vote and it was arranged in part to accommodate his schedule. He had been out of the country for three weeks before the meeting, and he expected to be out of town Tuesday when the next regularly scheduled meeting is held.

Poole’s absence would likely not have changed the outcome. If it tied 2-2, with both Hope and Commissioner Christopher Jarriel opposing as they did Thursday, the commission chair, who supported the measure, is authorized to break a tie.