Judge asked to block slave descendants’ effort to force a vote on zoning of their Georgia community

Associated Press

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia county is asking a judge to block a referendum effort that seeks to roll back zoning changes that residents say threaten one of the South’s last communities of Gullah-Geechee slave descendants. Black residents of Sapelo Island on Georgia’s seacoast are fighting a zoning decision by McIntosh County commissioners to allow larger homes in the tiny community of Hogg Hummock. Residents fear the change would bring property tax hikes they can’t afford. They’ve filed a petition with more than 2,300 signatures seeking a referendum to overturn the zoning change. Attorneys for McIntosh County asked a judge to intervene, saying a referendum would be illegal.