Supreme Court postpones spaceport referendum appeal

Aug. 30—The Georgia Supreme Court has postponed until October an appeal by Camden County officials challenging the validity of a referendum that is blocking the purchase of a 4,000-acre tract for a spaceport.

The referendum approved by 72% of Camden County voters in March prevents county officials from closing on the land deal with Union Carbide for the launch site.

The Federal Aviation Administration approved a site operator's license earlier this year to allow for the construction of a commercial space launch site and offer the site to commercial operators for liquid-fueled, small-lift orbital and suborbital launch vehicles. But that license was contingent upon the county closing on the deal with Union Carbide.

There is more at stake than whether rockets will ever be launched from the site after more than $11 million in taxpayer dollars have been spent on the project.

Camden officials argue the state constitution forbids residents from repealing county resolutions, and the real estate agreement falls under Georgia's home rule provision, which grants counties power to enact local laws.

The fear, according to the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, is a ruling against the county could create challenges against city and county governments across the state.

"Such an outcome would have a dramatic impact on ACCG's 159 county members, from both an operational and cost standpoint," according to a statement regarding the court ruling. "Counties would have to provide funding for the staffing, equipment, and locations for holding this new category of countywide special elections."

The county has failed to provide evidence that supports its agreement that its ability to conduct business is "severely threatened by giving voters the power of a referendum that allows the public to air its grievances through protected political speech," said Clare Norins, director of the University of Georgia School of Law's First Amendment Clinic.

The referendum gives residents the ability to veto measures like the Camden spaceport, an issue where many people felt they were being ignored as county commissioners pursued a prolonged quest to launch rockets off Georgia's coast toward sensitive barrier islands, Norins wrote.

"Invalidating this direct-democracy safety valve embedded in our state's constitution will strip not just the residents of Camden County, but (also) the people in all 159 Georgia counties of their ability to hold their county commissioners accountable more than once every four years," the legal brief said. "While county commissioners are small in number, they wield tremendous power to legislatively affect the lives of their constituents."