JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Failure to launch - Voters overwhelmingly rejected the planned Spaceport Camden in a referendum vote Tuesday.
The election may be over, but the fight isn't.
The Spaceport has been in the works for seven years, and already cost the county more than $10 million. Camden County officials filed an emergency appeal this week.
They asked a judge to block certification of the election results until another court decides if the election was legal in the first place. County officials said Georgia's constitution doesn't allow voters to block lawmakers by using the referendum process.
The Court of Appeals sent the matter on to Georgia's Supreme Court.
“I'm ecstatic," said Jim Goodman, St. Marys City Councilmember. "We worked hard. It's the right decision for the people."
Goodman was part of the more than 72 percent of voters who rejected the plan by county commissioners to buy thousands of acres of land to build Spaceport Camden.
"It culminates a lot of hard work on the part of some very, very dedicated people," Goodman said.
Spaceport supporters said it would create jobs. Opponents said cleaning decades of pollution from the proposed site will cost millions.
"We're fed up with it, and the public is thoroughly disgusted with the county commission," Goodman said.
While voters have blocked the county commission from buying the land for now, those lawmakers may have a 'plan B'.
At a special meeting Friday, the county commission met to appoint the first members to the Camden County Spaceport Authority. State law gives it the power to purchase the property.
"Now they're going to try to do an end run, do a circumvention of the will of the people," Goodman said.
Goodman and others believe the commissioners plan to use the Authority to buy the property.
"Trust me, they will hear from us if they tried to do that," Goodman said.
A spokesperson for Spaceport Camden sent First Coast News the following statement on behalf of Camden County.
"The ability of a bare minority of registered voters to trigger a referendum election is among the key issues that the Georgia Court of Appeals determined should be decided by the Georgia Supreme Court.
Camden County is assessing the results of last night's outcome on the future of Spaceport Camden and is working to determine the best way to preserve taxpayers’ investment in the recently issued Launch Site Operator License while the Georgia Supreme Court reviews the legal issues surrounding this election.”
First Coast News asked if county officials plan to use the new Spaceport Authority to purchase the site. FCN was told they had no further comment.
FCN reached out to every county commissioner and the county administrator. Either they didn't return our calls, or said they didn't want to comment.
Goodman said due in part to this issue, he plans to run for Camden County Commissioner in district four. The election is in November.