The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments about a controversial zoning decision that threatens to change the character of an historic Gullah Geechee enclave in McIntosh County.

Early voting was already underway when a judge canceled the grassroots referendum last fall.

New zoning is put on hold while the Georgia Supreme Court weighs the validity of a referendum on the same issue.

The mental state felt by some survivors “will make the living jealous of the dead,” one attorney said.

McIntosh’s legal fees for two cases related to zoning on Sapelo Island have topped $170,000 and continue to grow. 

A special legislative hearing on the dock collapse has been scheduled for next week.

JR Grovner said that he told a Georgia DNR captain last summer that the Sapelo Island dock's gangway was “going to collapse.”

The gangway was installed in 2021 but maintenance and inspection records are unclear.

A dock collapsed at Sapelo Island, leaving several dead and many injured. The island was celebrating its annual Cultural Day.

“The zoning has an ability to eradicate more of the population, as if it hadn't already been destroyed enough,” one Gullah Geechee resident said.

More than 800 McIntosh residents have already cast their ballots regarding the repeal of Hogg Hummock zoning.

McIntosh County voters are scheduled for a countywide vote on the single issue of Hogg Hummock zoning on Oct. 1, 2024, even as the county heads to court to prevent the referendum from taking place.

McIntosh County is pushing back against its citizens’ efforts to force a county-wide vote about zoning on Sapelo Island.

Community groups in McIntosh County filed a petition in probate court Tuesday to force a county-wide vote on a controversial zoning change on Sapelo Island’s Hogg Hummock. 

Black residents of Hogg Hummock on Sapelo Island refiled a legal challenge to zoning they fear will lead to higher taxes and push them off their ancestral Gullah Geechee community in McIntosh County.