Spaceport goes before the Georgia supreme court

Camden County leaders need to construct a spaceport. Many Camden residents do not. And now the query rests with the Georgia state Supreme Courtroom.

Driving the information: Legal professionals for the citizen petitioners who led the marketing campaign towards the spaceport, and legal professionals for the coastal county made their instances to the justices in Augusta final week.

Why it issues: A ruling within the county’s favor might threaten the clause within the Georgia structure that offers residents the appropriate to assemble petition signatures and power a referendum on an area authorities’s actions.

• A ruling for the petitioners might spell the top of the spaceport as deliberate.

Catch up fast: After years of controversy amid environmental and financial issues (which accelerated after plans to launch over Cumberland Island Nationwide Seashore grew to become clear in 2015), the county secured a spaceport operator license in December from the Federal Aviation Administration. (Any precise rocket launch would require an extra license.)

• The county has spent greater than $10 million on the plan.

Flashback: After a profitable petition marketing campaign to set off a referendum, 72% of county voters rejected its intention to buy the property wanted for the spaceport in March. The county has constantly challenged the validity of the referendum, which introduced them to the state supreme courtroom.

• The Courtroom of Appeals handed the case to the state Supreme Courtroom, calling the county’s request “a unprecedented treatment.”

What they’re saying: After listening to the arguments, Megan Desrosiers, director of Georgia environmental group One Hundred Miles (which helped organized the referendum), advised Axios that she has “confidence in all probability for the primary time on this complete saga for the final eight years that lastly there’s an authority that’s looking for the most effective pursuits of the voters, of the individuals in Camden County.”

• Steve Howard, Camden County’s administrator who’s been the chief spokesman of the undertaking, declined to remark to Axios following the proceedings in Augusta.

What we’re watching: This isn’t the one lawsuit surrounding the spaceport. The county additionally sued Union Carbide after the corporate declared they’d not promote the property to the county in any case, due to the referendum vote.

• A ruling from the state supreme courtroom might take months.