CAMDEN COUNTY, Ga. — The polls opened Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. for a special election in Camden County for residents to decide whether the county will have the authority to purchase a multi-million dollar plot of land to build a spaceport.
The Spaceport Camden project has been in the works since 2015. It would be the thirteenth licensed spaceport in the nation and the third vertical lift facility on the East Coast.
Supporters say it will create jobs and diversify the county's economy.
But, opponents point out that the land is contaminated by past industrial sites that have been housed there in the past, including a former rocket fuel facility. St. Marys City Councilman Jim Goodman told First Coast News they do not know what the cost will be to clean up the land, which he said is saturated with methane, other dangerous, toxic materials and buried, unexploded ordnances.
The Federal Aviation Administration approved an operator's license for the facility on the condition that the county acquires the former industrial site where the facility is planned.
Camden County Administrator Steve Howard told First Coast News the spaceport is a great opportunity, not only for launches, but for research and development, STEM programs for local students and a university center.
"We're part of the new space race, and we can be part of that and be a leader of that. And they're projecting that to be a trillion-dollar industry by 2040," Howard said.
If passed, the referendum on Tuesday's special election ballot could take away the county's power to purchase the site of the proposed spaceport.
Polls close at 7 p.m. Registered voters should go to their normal polling place to cast their ballots.