- County commissioners in Georgia face a lawsuit from Black residents in Hogg Hummock, a historic island community, over zoning changes.
- Zoning changes in the county doubled the size of houses allowed, causing concerns about property tax increases for Black residents.
- The lawsuit accuses county officials of violating zoning procedures, public meeting laws and residents’ constitutional rights.
County commissioners in Georgia are asking a judge to throw out a lawsuit by Black residents descended from slaves who fear new zoning changes will force them to sell their island homes in one of the South’s last surviving Gullah-Geechee communities.
Residents and landowners of the tiny Hogg Hummock community sued in October after McIntosh County commissioners voted to weaken zoning restrictions that for decades helped protect the enclave of modest homes along dirt roads on largely unspoiled Sapelo Island.
GEORGIA SLAVE DESCENDANTS FIGHT AGAINST ZONING CHANGES THREATENING THEIR HISTORIC ENCLAVE
The zoning changes doubled the size of houses allowed in Hogg Hummock. Black residents say larger homes in the community will lead to property tax increases that they won’t be able to afford. Their lawsuit asks a judge to declare the new law discriminates “on the basis of race, and that it is therefore unconstitutional, null, and void.”
Attorneys for the county filed a legal motion Nov. 20 asking a Superior Court judge to dismiss the lawsuit, noting that Georgia’s constitution grants the state and local governments broad immunity from litigation.
GEORGIA ISLAND SLAVE DESCENDANTS SETTLE DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT
However, the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that such protection from lawsuits, known as sovereign immunity, isn’t absolute. And state voters in 2020 approved a constitutional amendment carving out limited exceptions. It says governments can be sued when they break the law or violate the constitution.
A hearing on the county’s legal motion has been scheduled for Feb. 20.
The lawsuit by…
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