The lawsuit ran in tandem with a referendum effort that already overturned the controversial zoning.

When McIntosh residents voted overwhelmingly last month to repeal a 2023 amendment to allow larger houses on the Sapelo Island neighborhood of Hogg Hummock, a majority of the five-member county commission said they got the message loud and clear.

Black landowners from a Georgia island community founded by freed slaves are fighting their latest property dispute with local officials at the ballot box. Voters in coastal McIntosh County were deciding a referendum Tuesday that seeks to override county commissioner's 2023 decision to double the size of homes allowed in Sapelo Island's tiny Hogg Hummock community.

‘It’s about the treatment and governance of Gullah Geechee people and communities throughout the state of Georgia.’

Early voting in the McIntosh County Special Election begins Monday, Dec. 29. This will be the second go-round for this referendum, which was challenged by the county but ultimately upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court.

In a unanimous decision issued Tuesday, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the right of McIntosh County residents to vote directly to repeal a controversial zoning decision that would allow larger houses in a traditional Gullah-Geechee enclave on Sapelo Island.

Attorney Ben Crump has filed a lawsuit over the October 2024 Sapelo Island dock collapse that killed seven attendees of a Gullah Geechee culture festival.

Oyster shells are sourced from Atlanta restaurants, among other partners, and require a monthslong curing period in the sun to eliminate bacteria.

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.”