Cumberland Swaps Revealed

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Good morning! Preliminary agreements between the National Park Service and private land owners would allow 15,000 square foot homes to be built on Cumberland Island. In McIntosh County, officials proposed zoning for Sapelo’s Hogg Hummock after emerging from a questionably legal closed-door meeting. And with runoff elections in full swing, voters are weighing rising power bills and data center concerns against party loyalty as they decide on Georgia’s next utility regulators.

Questions, tips or concerns? Send me a note at mary.landers@thecurrentga.org

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EXPLAINER: ENVIRONMENT

Park Service prepares land swaps

In the first two of four planned public/private land swaps on Cumberland Island, draft deals indicate the National Park Service will allow private land owners to build multiple 15,000 square foot single family residences on the land they receive in the exchanges, The Current GA’s Mary Landers reports. That detail has raised eyebrows among conservationists, who are also calling for greater transparency and public involvement in the exchanges on Georgia’s largest barrier island.

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ANALYSIS: ELECTIONS

Power bills drive election

Pocketbook issues and data center growth, rather than party lines, are influencing voter choices in the upcoming election for two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, Georgia Recorder’s Alander Rocha reports. These races are front and center after a series of Georgia Power rate increases in recent years and Democrats are hoping that means they can flip control of the panel this fall. Republicans running for a seat this year are facing ideological differences over how to approach utility regulation, and looking at the May primary results, it appears Republican voters are also divided.

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NEWS: COMMUNITY

Hogg Hummock zoning proposed

The McIntosh County Commission has proposed new limits on house sizes in the Hogg Hummock neighborhood on Sapelo Island, with a maximum size of 1,800 square feet under roof and a maximum height of 35 feet, as The Current’s Mary Landers reports. The move comes after voters revoked the 2023 zoning measure, which allowed for larger homes that raised fears of gentrification. The proposed zoning — which commissioners approved 3-2 after discussing it in a closed door session that may have violated open meeting law — now heads to the county zoning board for approval, followed by a final vote by the commission.

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Also noted

• Sea turtles hog the limelight, but Coastal Georgia also hosts diamondback terrapins, the only turtles that thrive in salt marsh. This summer a research team is collecting data on their abundance in coastal creeks, reports Mark Dodd on the Facebook page of the Georgia Sea Turtle Cooperative. “Terrapins are abundant in some creeks in Georgia but appear to have been extirpated in some localized areas,” he writes. “The goal is to determine their statewide distribution and relative abundance in Georgia.”

• Georgia’s commercial and recreational food shrimp season opened in state territorial waters at 8 a.m. Tuesday. The opening allows shrimping from the shore to three miles out, reducing the fuel costs to shrimpers.

• “The International Union for Conservation of Nature said Friday it is recommending that the UNESCO World Heritage Committee vote to put the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on its prestigious list when it meets next month,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The bid is not final yet and must still clear this hurdle.

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