Judge orders a stop to referendum in Georgia slave descendants’ zoning battle

Associated Press

A Georgia judge has ordered a halt to a special election initiated by residents of the one of the South’s last remaining Gullah-Geechee communities of Black slave descendants, who hoped to undo zoning changes that they say threaten island homes. The judge’s ruling Wednesday comes after hundreds had already voted early in coastal McIntosh County. The official election day had been set for next Tuesday. The judge sided with McIntosh County commissioners who argued that Georgia’s constitution doesn’t allow citizens to challenge zoning ordinances by referendum. Residents of Sapelo Island’s Hogg Hummock community said they were blindsided last year when commissioners weakened development restrictions adopted decades ago to protect the tiny enclave.