Georgia Finally Gets it Right

From the AJC:

Jekyll Island hotel/condo plan droppedPark, conservation center now proposed for disputed areaBy JIM GALLOWAYThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 04/02/08

After a lengthy fight in the Capitol and with residents on the coast, a public-private partnership to remake state-owned Jekyll Island has backed away from plans to place hotels and condos on a massive parking lot that for decades has given Georgia vacationers access to a popular beach.

Instead, the acreage will be changed to include a park and an environmental conservation center, the latter originally planned for elsewhere on the island.

"After conferring with our revitalization partner, Linger Longer Communities, we have made the decision to limit use of this area to those public purposes and not development of accommodations, such as hotels and condominiums," according to a letter from Ben Porter, chairman of the Jekyll Island Authority, to House Majority Leader Jerry Keen.

The letter was released in order to fend off more legislative attempts to restrict Jekyll developers. None has been successful, but the efforts have generated thousands of telephone calls and e-mails to lawmakers since January.

"This was simply the right thing to do," said Sen. Jeff Chapman (R-Brunswick), who led the fight to reduce the footprint of Jekyll Island's redevelopment. "We're very excited for the public."

State Rep. Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City) took up the cause in the House. "We're very happy, and it wouldn't have happened without the thousands of people who called and e-mailed," Buckner said.

On Jekyll Island, residents David and Mindy Egan are co-directors of the Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island, which boasts an e-mail list of 7,000 supporters, a mix of environmentalists, island residents and vacationers.

"I have to admit everybody's thrilled," David Egan said. While Egan did not discount the impact of public opinion, he said the change in plans might have had more to do with the federal regulation of beach property.

In his letter, Porter, the authority chairman, said the state Department of Natural Resources "has recently established" that the stretch of beach in question is covered by the U.S. Shore Protection Act passed by Congress in 1988.

"Permits will be required for any redevelopment of this area," Porter wrote.

Egan said that Jekyll authorities and Linger Longer, a development firm with major Republican ties, probably realized that court challenges to those permits could tie up the redevelopment project for years.

Efforts to contact Porter and a spokesman for the Jekyll Island Authority were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Both Egan and Chapman, the state senator from Brunswick, said they would have to see new blueprints of the development plans before they could declare victory."

I am SO HAPPY!