Voters Strike Down Rezoning Laws

Voters in coastal Georgia rejected an ordinance that will have allowed the development of bigger houses on Sapelo Island, one of many few remaining communities based by the Gullah Geechee folks—descendants of enslaved Africans dwelling alongside the coasts of the Carolinas, Georgia, and northern Florida. 

The Jan. 20 vote on a referendum organized by Sapelo Island residents efficiently reversed McIntosh County commissioners’ 2023 resolution to double the dimensions of houses allowed in Sapelo Island’s predominantly Black Hogg Hummock neighborhood.

Supporters of the referendum argued that letting rich outsiders construct giant trip houses might increase property taxes, making them unaffordable for native residents and probably forcing them off their land. 

Island residents stated they have been blindsided in 2023 when commissioners tried to weaken a particular zoning ordinance enacted 30 years earlier to guard Hogg Hummock landowners from vital tax will increase. The commissioners voted to extend the utmost dimension of houses in Hogg Hummock from 1,400 to three,000 sq. ft (130 to 278 sq. meters). They stated the adjustments would enable extra dwelling area for households and claimed that they had no intention of displacing Black landowners.

Gullah Geechee residents mobilized voters by means of a petition with 2,300 signatures and challenged commissioners within the Georgia Supreme Court to safe a particular election. Unofficial returns confirmed that roughly 85 p.c of voters who solid ballots supported the referendum, according to WTOC News. According to experiences, solely about 19 p.c of the island’s registered voters took half within the particular election. 

Located about an hour’s drive south of Savannah, the state of Georgia owns most of Sapelo Island’s 30 sq. miles, and there aren’t any roads connecting the island to the mainland. Hogg Hummock, also referred to as Hog Hammock, encompasses roughly one sq. mile. About 30 to 50  Gullah Geechee residents nonetheless stay in houses alongside dust roads locally. 

In 1966, Hogg Hummock was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the official checklist of treasured U.S. historic websites. But efforts to protect the neighborhood finally depend on the local government in McIntosh County, the place white residents make up 65% of the county’s inhabitants.

“People labored arduous to get this land on Sapelo, they usually labored arduous to protect who they’re,”  Maurice Bailey, a Sapelo Island native, informed the Associated Press. 

“Without this land, all of our descendants lose their connection,” added Bailey, the founding father of Save Our Legacy Ourselves (SOLO), which goals to preserve Gullah Geechee history and tradition by means of farming, informed the outlet.

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