Woodbine, Georgia (AP) — Opponents of a commercial spaceport planned along the Georgia coast are calling on judges on Tuesday for a special election to decide whether voters should make a deal. He urged civil servants to stop buying land for commercial lunch pads.
A court order delay has effectively canceled a 4,000 acre (1,600 hectares) of real estate sellers and has effectively spent a decade on the county authorities’ commercial space race after spending more than $ 10. Insisted that it could be terminated. One million in the project.
“It could kill this deal,” county lawyer John Myers told the judge. “I have a $ 10.3 million invoice I’ve paid over the last nine years, but it’s never recoverable. And we’re ending the spaceport project in this court.”
Officials in 55,000 counties on the Georgia-Florida route have been tracking the spaceport Camden for years. This is called a “once-in-generation” opportunity to boost the economy by not only launching satellites into orbit, but also calling for help. Industry and tourists.
Opponents say there is no guarantee that the project will bring economic growth, and the proposed location threatens the nearby Barrier Island. Critics, including the National Park Service, said the county’s plan to launch small rockets on two barrier islands would burn to Cumberland Island, a federal protected wilderness visited by about 600,000 campers and tourists each year. It is said to pose a risk of explosive misfires that can cause debris to fall.
Despite these concerns, the Federal Aviation Administration granted the county permission on December 20 to build and operate what will be the country’s 13th commercial spaceport. The FAA said in a letter that a further review and another license would be required before the spaceport could launch the rocket, and that there was no guarantee that the launch would be approved.
Opponents of the spaceport are now trying to stop the project with a ballot box. A petition filed with the Probate Court last month calls for a referendum that allows local voters to decide whether Camden County will buy real estate (formerly industrial land) for which it wants to build a spaceport.
The Georgia Constitution allows special elections on local issues if 10% of the county’s registered voters sign the petition. Conservation groups that have collected signatures in Camden County say that more than 3,800 people have signed. This is more than meeting the criteria in counties with less than 35,000 registered voters.
A county resident and former airline pilot, Paul Harris, has filed a petition with the Camden County High Court to suspend the purchase of land until a referendum on the spaceport is held or rejected. One of the signers. He testified on Tuesday that he suspected the project would bring economic growth and believed that the county wasted taxpayer money.
“We need to spend more hurdles and tens of millions of dollars before the launch takes place,” Harris said. He added, “Let the referendum and let the taxpayers make the decision.”
Georgia has given a 60-day grace period for a will judge to review a petition and determine if it meets the requirements for a special election. If so, the referendum will be held 30 days later, or by mid-March in the case of a Camden County petition.
Dana Brown, a lawyer who signed the petition, said that allowing Camden County to buy spaceport assets before people vote would violate the right to a referendum under the Georgia Constitution. The county lawyer, Myers, said the petitioner had been waiting to the last minute and should not be allowed to postpone the project.
County officials say the purchase option with the current owner of the land will expire on Thursday. Steve Howard, government administrator for Camden County, said the agreement has been extended three times since 2015, but there is no guarantee that landowners will agree to do so again.
Mr Howard told the judge that the county lawyer and the landowner had discussed purchasing options, but “I can’t say whether they will be extended or not.”
Scarlett said he plans to rule by January 23. A temporary injunction will suspend the purchase of land until then.
Judges Consider Suspending Land Transactions in Georgia Spaceport for Voters | WGN Radio 720
Source link Judges Consider Suspending Land Transactions in Georgia Spaceport for Voters | WGN Radio 720
The post Judges Consider Suspending Land Transactions in Georgia Spaceport for Voters | WGN Radio 720 appeared first on Illinois News Today.
No comments:
Post a Comment