Descendants of enslaved people living on a Georgia island are watching anxiously as county commissioners consider doubling the size of homes allowed in their tiny community
FILE - A sticker celebrating the Geechee heritage is seen on a pickup truck, June 10, 2013, as passengers board a ferry to the mainland from Sapelo Island, Ga. One of the few remaining Gullah-Geechee communities in the U.S. is in another fight to hold onto land owned by residents' families since their ancestors were freed from slavery.
The zoning plan before commissioners would loosen zoning restrictions adopted nearly three decades ago to help Hogg Hummock's 30 to 50 residents hold onto their land. It's one of just a few surviving communities in the South of people known as Gullah, or Geechee in Georgia, whose ancestors worked island slave plantations.," said JR Grovner, who was born and raised on Sapelo Island and gives guided tours there for visitors.
Hogg Hummock's population has been shrinking in recent decades, and some families have sold their land to outsiders who built vacation homes. In 2012, dozens of Hogg Hummock residents and landowners appealed tax increases caused by soaring property values. County officials rolled back most of them.The current county ordinance limits homes in Hogg Hummock to 1,400 square feet of heated and air-conditioned space.
County officials also argue that limiting size by heated and cooled space has proven impossible to enforce. County attorney Adam Poppell said more than a dozen complaints have been made about homes in Hogg Hummock violating the rules, but some property owners have refused to open their doors to inspectors.
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