Sapelo referendum, legal costs

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026

Correction: Jan. 26, 2026, 2:20 p.m. The Georgia House Natural Resources & Environment Committee met Jan. 15. Coast Watch previously reported the wrong date. The link to the meeting has also been corrected.

Good morning! We have results today from Tuesday’s special election about rezoning in McIntosh County. We also have an update on the mounting costs to that rural county of fighting in court to keep the rezoning in place. There’s news about water planning at the local, state and federal level. And while it’s been cold on the coast lately, climatologists report how temperature trends shaped up in Georgia and worldwide in 2025.

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

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NEWS: ELECTIONS

McIntosh votes

The long-awaited referendum on zoning changes for Sapelo Island’s Hogg Hummock community is over, and the ordinance passed in 2023 is repealed. More than 1,800 county residents voted, favoring the “yes” repeal vote by a more than 5:1 margin in unofficial results reported Tuesday evening.

“I feel like the voters, the county, the people are clearly saying ‘enough,'” said Josiah “Jazz” Watts, a Sapelo descendant and justice strategist for One Hundred Miles. “They’re saying ‘enough.’”

Next steps for Sapelo could unfold as early as Thursday. The county commission will hold a special called meeting for 10 a.m. Thursday at Darien City Hall, 106 Washington St. in Darien, to consider the adoption of a moratorium “pertaining to certain activities on Sapelo Island.”

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NEWS: COMMUNITY

High cost of rezoning

McIntosh County has spent over half a million dollars defending its 2023 Hogg Hummock rezoning, which allowed larger houses to be built in the Gullah Geechee enclave to increase the rural county’s tax base, The Current GA‘s Mary Landers reports. Longtime 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 homes and sweep in wealthy developers. The payments, connected to Sapelo-rezoning-related lawsuits, add up to $518,275 and continue to accumulate in a county where the 2026 fiscal year budget comes in at about $21 million.

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NEWS: ENVIRONMENT

Water planning

Savannah recently broke ground on a $146 million project aimed at shoring up the region’s water supply for decades, GPB‘s Orlando Montoya reports. The expansion of the city’s water treatment plant will allow the city to add more than 30 million gallons of drinking water a day to its supply for its residential and industrial customers.

The Georgia House Natural Resources & Environment Committee, chaired by Lynn Smith, R-Newnan, met Jan. 15 to discuss proposed changes to the State Water Management Plan. The changes would reduce the number of stakeholders on the regional and state water planning councils. Representatives from One Hundred Miles and the Georgia Water Coalition opposed the streamlining. Watch the meeting here. HR 1008 supporting the proposed changes passed out of the committee Jan. 16.

In Congress, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is backing legislation that could improve testing and treatment for the approximately 1.7 million Georgians who obtain their drinking water from private wells. The bill, first introduced by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Susan Collins (R-ME) would give states the flexibility to use $5 billion provided for in the bipartisan infrastructure law to address contamination from PFAS and other emerging contaminants in private wells and in small and disadvantaged communities. 

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NEWS: ENVIRONMENT

Hotter and hotter

Last year was Earth’s third-warmest year since records began in 1850 — extending an unprecedented global heat streak into its third year, the nonprofit Climate Central reports. Global average temperatures in 2025 were 1.3°C (2.4°F) above pre-industrial levels. The cause? Heat-trapping pollution from burning fossil fuels. Scientists warn that warming of more than 1.5°C poses serious risks to lives, livelihoods, and ecosystems.

In Georgia, 2025 was the 19th warmest year on a record extending back to 1895, the Georgia Climate Office reports. The majority of the state experienced warmer than normal temperatures and below average precipitation.

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Also noted:

Wild Cumberland will hold a virtual town hall at 7 p.m. Jan. 21 to discuss the National Park Service’s newest proposed Visitor Use Management Plan, which outlines the agency intention to accommodate 700 visitors per day (up from the current 300), establish new campsites, and provide retail sales on the island, among other things. Volunteers from the nonprofit Wild Cumberland will outline the proposed changes in detail, explain what you can do, and answer questions. Public comments on the plan are due Feb. 7, 2026, at 1:59 a.m. Register for the town hall here.

Coastal WildScapes will hold its 16th Annual Symposium, “Ebb and Flow of the Coast” from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 7 at Richmond Hill City Center in Richmond Hill. Speakers will be presenting on coastal processes and sandhill species. Find more information and register here.

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