Overview

• Georgia’s high court on Sept. 30 reversed a lower-court halt and allowed a countywide vote on repealing McIntosh County’s 2023 zoning ordinance affecting Hogg Hummock.
• The ordinance had doubled allowable home sizes in the Gullah-Geechee enclave, which residents say could invite luxury development and drive up property taxes.
• More than 2,300 registered voters signed a petition to force the referendum, which was stopped last October after hundreds had already cast early ballots.
• Justice John Ellington wrote that nothing in the state’s Zoning Provision limits a county electorate’s authority to seek repeal, and the court also enjoined enforcement of the ordinance.
• County attorney Ken Jarrard said officials are disappointed but respect the decision, while the justices emphasized they decided a procedural question and not whether the community merits special protections, a ruling that could influence similar disputes statewide.