Sapelo Island’s Gullah Geechee go to court Wednesday in a bid to go to the polls.
The Georgia Supreme Court will hear island residents’ appeal of a lower-court ruling that blocked an October 2024 citizens’ referendum. The referendum sought to repeal a local zoning ordinance allowing bigger residences on the coastal barrier island, the longtime home of descendants of enslaved West Africans who worked Sapelo’s plantations before emancipation and the Civil War.
Oral arguments in Barbara Bailey v. McIntosh County, Judge Harold Webster v. McIntosh County and McIntosh County v. Judge Harold Webster begin at 10 a.m. at the Nathan Deal Judicial Center in downtown Atlanta. Bailey is a Gullah Geechee resident of Sapelo, while Webster is the probate judge who ordered the referendum election that was later halted.
The justices won’t rule on the cases during Wednesday’s court session. Decisions typically come months after oral arguments.
The Georgia Supreme Court date is the latest legal action in a saga that dates to a 2023 zoning change that more than doubled the allowable home size in the sparsely populated Hog Hammock settlement. Sapelo is the rare inhabited barrier island along the Georgia coast not dotted with beachfront homes, resorts and other familiar signs of oceanside development.
Part of the reason is the island is connected to the mainland by ferryboat, not a road or bridge. Another factor was a zoning restriction that limited residences to 1,400 square feet. The ordinance has prevented the building of luxury homes and hotels like those found elsewhere along the coast in places like Tybee Island and St. Simons Island.
Credit: Justin Taylor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Justin Taylor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The McIntosh County Commission revised that law to allow homes up to 3,000 square feet in September 2023. Island residents countered with a signature petition drive, seeking a citizens’ referendum meant to repeal the ordinance, much like Camden County residents did in 2022 in overturning a County Commission vote involving a controversial proposed spaceport.
Sapelo residents succeeded in their petition drive, and the referendum moved forward. The McIntosh County Commission filed suit to stop the election, asserting that zoning decisions are not subject to the part of the state constitution that allows for referendums. A Superior Court judge sided with the county in a hearing last October, halting a special election in which early voting was already underway and prompting the appeal to Georgia’s high court.
Wednesday’s oral arguments will last 40 minutes, with attorneys for Bailey and other residents allotted 15 minutes, Webster’s lawyer speaking for 5 minutes and McIntosh County’s representatives given 20 minutes. The Sapelo Gullah Geechee lawyers, Dana Braun and Philip Thompson, are the same duo who successfully argued the Camden spaceport case.
Here’s what you need to know about Sapelo Island, the Gullah Geechee and the referendum.
Credit: Adam Van Brimmer/AJC
Credit: Adam Van Brimmer/AJC
Where is Sapelo Island?
One of Georgia’s 14 barrier islands, Sapelo is near the halfway point of the state’s coastline, about an hour’s drive south of Savannah. The island is part of McIntosh County, a sparsely populated county renowned for its shrimping fleet.
The state of Georgia owns 97% of the 16,500-acre island and manages its land as an estuarine reserve and marine institute. Georgia also operates the Reynolds Mansion, a plantation manor house, as a state park.
Private landholders own 434 acres of Sapelo in and around the Gullah Geechee community of Hog Hammock. The neighborhood is centered on the interior of the island, but several privately owned properties have water views.
Sapelo is 3.1 miles wide at its widest point and 12 miles long.
Who are the Gullah Geechee?
Enslaved from West Africa were first brought to work Sapelo’s plantations in the early 1800s. The largest crop was sugar cane, and at the height, approximately 385 laborers worked the fields.
Following emancipation and the Civil War’s end in 1865, many of the freed Black slaves remained on Sapelo and established a number of settlements. They became known as Gullah Geechee and survived through farming, timbering and oystering. Tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds bought much of Sapelo in 1934 and consolidated the Gullah Geechee settlements into one community at Hog Hammock.
The Gullah Geechee population has slowly dwindled in the decades since as descendants moved off the island. Today, fewer than 40 live full time on Sapelo and less than half the property in Hog Hammock is owned by Gullah Geechee. Those who still live on Sapelo occupy modest dwellings, such as cottages and mobile homes.
Last October, seven visitors were killed during the island’s annual heritage festival when a gangway collapsed at a state-owned and operated ferry dock.
Credit: Brian Brown/Vanishing Georgia
Credit: Brian Brown/Vanishing Georgia
What happened with the zoning ordinance?
The McIntosh County manager introduced revisions to the zoning ordinance in September 2023, just a week before the commission was to vote on the changes. In addition to the dwelling size change, the proposal included language that would have allowed a marina to be built on the island and removed references to historic preservation of the community.
According to Sapelo’s Gullah Geechee residents, none were consulted by the county during the ordinance revision process. However, public meetings were held on the ordinance in 2021 and 2022.
The McIntosh Commission narrowed the ordinance to focus on home square footage before the vote. The revision passed 3-2, with then-Chairman David Stevens casting the deciding vote. In remarks during the meeting, Stevens blamed the Gullah Geechee for necessitating the zoning change by selling Hog Hammock properties to non-descendants and added that the current generation of Gullah Geechee lack the cultural appreciation shown by their ancestors.
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
How did the Gullah Geechee fight the ordinance change?
Sapelo residents filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of the ordinance in October 2023. They claimed race discrimination, saying the change would lead to property tax increases that would force them to sell their land. A judge dismissed that lawsuit in March 2024, citing a technical error.
Just before the lawsuit’s filing, the Gullah Geechee hinted at mounting a voter referendum initiative. Under the home rule provision of the Georgia Constitution, citizens can challenge local legislative decisions.
To trigger a referendum, the Gullah Geechee needed 1,800 county residents to sign petitions calling for the election. They submitted petitions containing 2,300 signatures last July, and Judge Webster ordered the election on July 23, 2024.
That same day, McIntosh County filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the election. A Superior Court judge heard arguments in the case on Sept. 20, 2024. Judge Gary McCorvey issued a ruling siding with the county and halting the election on Sept. 25.
Credit: Justin Taylor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Justin Taylor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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