The Gullah Geechee of Sapelo Island live a simple, traditional life in a community free of the vacation getaway vibe of other oceanfront locales along Georgia’s coast.
Whether that lifestyle continues as it has for generations now depends on how the Georgia Supreme Court interprets language in the state’s constitution.
The justices heard oral arguments Wednesday in an appeal of a lower-court ruling that blocked an October 2024 citizens’ referendum organized by Sapelo’s Gullah Geechee residents. Those landowners are descendants of enslaved West Africans who worked Sapelo’s plantations and stayed on the island after emancipation and the Civil War in an unincorporated community known as Hog Hammock.
The special election sought to repeal a local zoning ordinance adopted by the McIntosh County Commission in 2023 that allowed bigger residences on the sparsely populated barrier island about an hour south of Savannah. Sapelo residents want to “preserve and protect” their way of life and fear that homes as large as 3,000 square feet could make the island a second home and vacation rental hot spot and significantly increase property values and property taxes.
Credit: Justin Taylor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Justin Taylor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Superior Court judge halted that vote last September, ruling that county zoning matters are not subject to referendum challenges as outlined in the Georgia constitution.
The state Supreme Court has until Nov. 18 to issue a decision on the appeal. Should the justices rule in favor of the Sapelo residents, it is unclear when the referendum could again go to a vote.
“Having this case argued before the state’s Supreme Court speaks to how important this issue is to the citizens of Georgia and also says something about the importance now being placed on the Gullah Geechee people of Sapelo,” said Jazz Watts, a Sapelo descendant and Gullah Geechee community leader. “I was encouraged by the thoughtfulness of the justice’s questions.”
The high court’s members peppered attorneys for Sapelo residents and McIntosh County with queries about the language in the constitution’s Home Rule provision. The constitution authorizes local governments to adopt ordinances, resolutions and regulations in regards to property without state legislative approval while also granting citizens the power to challenge those decisions by referendum.
Yet, the Home Rule provision also details local government’s zoning powers without specific mention of the ability to appeal those decisions by referendum.
In Sapelo’s case, the zoning change was done by ordinance, providing an opening for a referendum, lawyers for the Sapelo residents argue. Representatives for the county counter that the provision’s zoning powers language exempts the change in home-size restrictions from a repeal vote.
Credit: Justin Taylor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Justin Taylor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Several of the justices probed those legal arguments, most notably Justice Andrew Pinson, Justice Charles Bethel, Justice Carla Wong McMillian and Chief Justice Nels Peterson. They challenged positions on the “ambiguous” language of the home rule provision — whether the law contradicts itself or whether zoning is a “weaker power” than other legislative actions.
Savannah-based attorney Philip Thompson, who represented the Sapelo residents, praised the court as a “hot bench” that asked questions aimed at finding an answer to a constitutional quandary.
“This ruling will have ramifications on citizens’ referendums going forward,” he said. “It’s clear they want questions like this settled.”
For seven of the eight justices, the Sapelo case is the second citizens’ referendum-related case they’ve heard. The first, a 2022 suit involving a proposed spaceport project in Camden County, was argued a week before Pinson was appointed to the court. The justices unanimously ruled the referendum in that case valid. But that decision did not establish judicial precedent for the Sapelo case because Camden involved a real estate contract, not a zoning decision.
Credit: Adam Van Brimmer/AJC
Credit: Adam Van Brimmer/AJC
The Sapelo residents left the Nathan Deal Judicial Center cautiously optimistic the court will rule in their favor and allow for the referendum to move forward. Chris Bailey — who, along with his wife, Barbara, and another Gullah Geechee community member, Stanley Walker, brought the appeal — said he was pleased with the oral arguments.
He was also heartened by the small group of supporters who made the long trip from Sapelo — an island not linked to the mainland by bridge and accessible only by boat — to be in the courtroom and to rally in front of the courthouse with “I STAND WITH SAPELO” signs.
“It makes the ride back easier,” he said before excusing himself, citing a desire to catch the afternoon’s last ferry back to the island.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
