Literary Guild donates

50¢
Published by
Permar Publications
January 27, 2014
www.theislanderonline.com
Sea Island
subdivision plat
protested
•
[email protected]
Established in 1972
Vol 42 Issue 4
Literary Guild donates
By Matthew J. Permar
Sea Island Acquisition LLC
drew fire last week from local environmental protection
groups for an 8-lot subdivision they have planned for the
south end of the island.
The opposition came during the Glynn County Island
Planning Commission (IPC)
meeting when the company
was looking for approval of
their preliminary subdivision
plat.
The company wants to develop the subdivision, Cloister
Residences East, on a 7.3 acre
tract of land on the southern
end of the island between the
Black Banks River and the
Atlantic Ocean.
The narrow strip of land is
south of the Cloister Ocean
Residences and the Beach
Club.
Eric Landon, a planner
with the county’s Community
Development Dept., told the
commission that the subdivision was permitted under
the Cloister hotel’s overall
Planned Development text
and that staff recommended
approval of the preliminary
plat.
Preliminary plat applications do not require public
hearings, but in light of the
large turnout for this issue,
IPC chairman John Dow said
he would allow the public to
speak.
In the end the IPC voted
6-1 to approve the plat because the opposition’s position
was based on Georgia Dept. of
Natural Resources (DNR) and
Army Corps of Engineers regulations, which do not come
into play on a preliminary
plat application. The preliminary plat show the layout of
the lots and roads.
IPC
member
Stan
Humphries voted against the
plat approval.
Turn to Page 2
Sea Island subdivision
Gulfstream
announces
Brunswick
expansion
By Pamela Permar
Shierling
After five years of talks
and negotiations, Gulfstream
Aerospace Corporation announced last week that it
will expand operations at
the Brunswick Golden Isles
Airport.
At a called meeting on
Tuesday, January 21, the
Brunswick-Glynn
County
Economic Development Authority approved the 20-year,
26 acre ground lease that is
expected to create at least 100
additional jobs for Brunswick
and Glynn County.
The 100 jobs will increase
Gulfstream
Brunswick’s
workforce by 50 percent.
The 110,000 sq. ft. facility
Paul Pieschel, president of the LIterary Guild of St. Simons Island presents checks totaling $25,000
to Lee Hiers Owen (left) Executive Director of the Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation
and Geri Lynn Mullis, the Director of the Marshes of Glynn Libraries. Advocating, promoting and
raising money for literary arts that educate, inform, and entertain, the Literary Guild also gave an
additional $2,000 to Tonya Barbee, the Interim Executive Director of Communities In Schools. The
donations were presented during the Guild’s annual meeting last Thursday, Jan. 23.
Islander Staff Photo - Permar
The Literary Guild of St. Simons Island provides
$27,000 in funding to local agencies
By Matthew J. Permar
After several years of alienation from the Three Rivers
Regional Library System, the
Literary Guild of St. Simons
Island is once again working
hand in hand with the organization that now runs the
Brunswick-Glynn County and
St. Simons Island Libraries,
the 7-month old Marshes of
Glynn Libraries (MOGL).
In a big show of support,
Literary Guild president Paul
Pieschel presented a check
for $17,000 to MOGL Director Geri Lynn Mullis during
the Guild’s annual meeting
Thursday, Jan. 23.
The money is earmarked
for books and programs at the
St. Simons Island Library, according to Mullis.
The Brunswick Glynn
County Library is supported
by a separate organization,
the Friends of the Brunswick
Library.
The Literary Guild not only
supports the Island Library,
they also raise money for other literary related programs.
During last week’s meeting the Guild gave $2,000 to
Tonya Barbee, the Interim
Executive Director of Communities in Schools.
Lee Hiers Owen, the
Executive Director of the
Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation (CCGF), received three checks for various programs provided by her
Foundation.
Owen received $2,000 that
will be used in conjunction
with the Glynn County Health
Dept. for their Reachout and
Read Program.
Reachout and Read is a national program in which medical providers promote early
literacy and school readiness
in pediatric exam rooms nationwide by giving new books
to children and advice to
Turn to Page 6
Literary Guild
County-Wide News - Read County-Wide
Page 3 - New Business
Page 5 - Jeff Lane - On the Ball
Page 9 - Movies
Page 10 - Pew News
Page 11 - In Step
Page 12 - Back Talk
Turn to Page 6
Gulfstream
City gets update
on violent crime
By Pamela Permar
Shierling
Captain Terry Wright of
the Brunswick City Police
Dept., gave City Commissioners an update on the violent crime task force during
the city’s work session last
Wednesday.
Capt. Wright told commissioners that agencies working
together to reduce crime in the
city as well as Glynn County
include the FBI, ATF, Homeland Security, Glynn County
School Police Dept., the Georgia State Probation office, the
Pardon and Paroles Board,
the Glynn County Sheriff’s
Dept., the Brunswick District
Attorney’s office and the U.S.
Attorney’s office.
“Progress is being made,”
Wright said. “We want to keep
working together.”
Turn to Page 4
City Commission
Page 2, January 27, 2014, The Islander
Sea Island subdivision
Continued from Page 1
A large part of the opposition came
in a letter from Dr. Fred Marland, a
marine scientist and retired Director of Marsh & Beach Division of the
DNR.
Dr. Marland’s three page letter
contained 17 points, some very technical, about the property in question,
which he referred to as a “spit.”
Marland pointed out that there is
an ‘L’ shaped jetty at the south end
of the existing Cloister Ocean Residences which captures and retains
sand that flows naturally from north
to south along the beach.
As the sand flows south into and
is retained by the jetty, the Sea Island company periodically uses heavy
equipment to redistribute it back to
the north in front of the Beach Club
swimming pool and spa to replenish
the beach.
The jetty is part of the company’s
decades old, on-going beach re-nourishment project.
According to Marland, the jetty interrupts “the river of sand or the long
shore drift along the beach.”
“The sand flow does not reach spit,”
said Marland in his letter, “The lack
of sand in the jetty’s shadow (south
of the jetty) has led to accelerated
erosion.”
Marland maintained that in recent
years the sand spit south of the jetty
has eroded more than 75 ft. of the primary dune and dry sand beach. Closer to Gould’s inlet to the south, the
spit has receded 100 ft. and more due
to the interruption of the sand flow
caused by the jetty.
Marland’s point was dramatically
evident in aerial photos provided to
the IPC.
Marland said the depth of the
primary dune has almost vanished
and is about one third of its original
width. He said two of the lots close to
the jetty have no dune at all.
“The remaining dune ridge is truncated and is sheared off,” said Marland, “It was called a ‘bank’ by the
Shupe (land) survey. The missing
and incomplete dune ridge, often less
than 20 ft. wide, is the only protection
from flooding.”
“There are no secondary and tertiary dune ridges behind,” Marland
said, “This is an important feature for
(building) construction under the Ga.
Shore Protection Act of 1979 since
several rows or series of dunes become part of the give and take of the
sand sharing system.”
Several times IPC member Robert
Ussery asked how much of the 7.3
acres was developable. Sea Island attorney Jim Gilbert estimated “about
half,” according to the survey.
After some technical information
about tides and ‘mean sea level,’ Marland disputed that there is that much
developable land.
“On several spring tides twice a
month at new and full moons with 8
ft. to 9 ft. tides,” said Marland, “most
of the lots are flooded. Further down
the spit there are a few knobs remaining above the sea. The highest water
level observed in the previous tidal
epoch (1983 - 2001) on July 22, 2001
was 9.41 ft. There was virtually no
land remaining. It is not factual to
say that the eight lots constitute a total of 4.6 acres of land.”
Marland said, “As the ocean rises,
what are today’s spring tides will be
tomorrow’s high tide line. Today on
spring tides there is little dry beach
for a peaceful stroll thus people go up
into the sand dunes and marshes to
walk.”
“It is clear the site lacks enough
land for construction never mind on
a spit without stable dunes, now fast
eroding with elevation barely above
average tides and flooded on spring
tides,” Marland continued, “One
storm could advance 50 or 100 ft. west
in wash-over fans and perhaps create
a new inlet. In a few short years the
spit peninsula will be under water.”
Marland also questioned the property’s zoning.
Marland said that according to the
county’s official zoning map posted
on the wall of the Pate Annex building and adopted on Sept. 5, 2013,
the spit is classified as Conservation
Preservation.
“The zoning (department) staff
has mistakenly classified the spit as
part High Density Residential,” said
Marland.
Marland compared the project to
houses and condos built on sand spits
and sand bars as “stilt” structures in
New Jersey that were destroyed by
Hurricane Sandy.
“The project is a physical absurdity,” said Marland.
The Sea Island company responded to Marland’s letter with a document of their own. “No comment” was
the response to nine of the doctor’s 17
points.
The company’s document started
by pointing out that the request was
for a subdivision approval, not a rezoning, and the review is governed by
the standards in the staff report only.
The company disagreed with Marland’s assertions about the land elevation and that much of it is at 8 ft.
MSL (mean sea level) or less. They
contend that it is in the 14 to 18 ft
range. They cited a 2007 topographic
map.
The company also disagreed with
Marland’s point that reconstruction
of the homes after a storm would be
done at county taxpayer’s expense.
“This is a private project and not
eligible for FEMA disaster assistance,” according to the company document, “The homes are only eligible
for $250,000 worth of flood insurance
with any greater amounts covered by
private insurance.
The company also noted that Army
Corps of Engineers and DNR marsh
and saltwater jurisdictional lines
were shown on the plat.
The company’s final disagreement
was with Marland’s statement that
the property is zoned Conservation
Preservation.
They state that “the Planned Development zoning district extends well
south of the proposed subdivision.”
David Kyler, the executive director
of the Center for a Sustainable Coast
(CSC) also sent a letter reenforcing
many of Marland’s points.
Kyler also had questions about Environment Protection Division (EPD)
delineation of the marsh buffer.
He asked if any bulkheads were
proposed along the marsh and beach
to protect from erosion.
Sea Island attorney Jim Gilbert
said no bulkheads, rock or any armoring of the beach was planned.
Kyler also asked: would water quality be monitored around the project;
how much of the site would be filled
and to what elevation; what drainage requirements would be imposed
and how would they be enforced; and
what, if any, provisions were being
made for public beach access.
Gilbert said that there would be no
fill dirt brought in to area.
In his comments Kyler reiterated
many of Marland’s points, particularly about beach erosion and land
elevation.
He said that the building envelop
and zoning setbacks should be delineated on the plat so the decision makers could clearly understand the relationship between the building sites
and the regulatory jurisdiction lines
for shore and marsh buffer protection.
He suggested that county officials
use their Geographic Information
System Dept. (GIS) to overlay the
National Wetlands Inventory maps
on the plat and ask the Corps of Engineers to conduct new site inspections
to locate land boundaries in relation
to the adjacent marsh.
Kyler said a review of FEMA maps
indicated that “velocity zones were
conspicuously omitted and that a corrected map may indicate that a portion of the site or even all of it, may be
in velocity zone, which raises public
safety concerns.
Comments in a letter from Dr.
Chester Jackson, Jr., Assistant Professor of Geology at Georgia Southern University, were consistent with
Marland’s and Kyler’s.
Others joining the opposition were
Senior GreenLaw attorney Steven
Caley, Alice Keyes, Associate Director of a new coastal protection organization based in Brunswick called 100
Miles, former Altamaha Riverkeeper
James Holland and a number of Sea
Island residents.
Keyes agreed with the comments
made by the other environmental organizations and added that some 30
sea turtle nests had been found in
this area over the last 13 years and
the development would be in violation
of regulations protecting the turtles.
Keyes also agreed with Caley’s
point that the beach south of the jetty
has eroded 150 ft. in the last 10 years.
After a Sea Island consultant said
he had flagged the lots, marked the
DNR wetlands and submitted his
findings to the Army Corps, James
Holland said he was in full disagreement with it.
Holland reiterated that part of lots
2 and 3 have no sand dune in front
of them because they have washed
away.
Holland said high tides would do
more than just damage lots 2 and 3.
Holland said that marsh jurisdictional plants have been found on the
site and that at high tide, lot 8 on the
west side of the spit is surrounded by
water and is in the Army Corps jurisdiction. Holland added that he does
not trust the DNR and Corps.
Saying the company was not seeking any exceptions from their PD text,
Gilbert said “Our PD text is the zoning ordinance for this property, it is
for multi-family use. We are asking
for a single family preliminary plat.
We are not in violation of any local
or state regulations. The bulk heads
(for the road) are not in violation of
any regulations. It has been stated
that the marsh delineation lines are
wrong, I disagree, I say they are correct. Even so marsh delineation is
not a discussion for tonight. What
you need to ask Mr. (David) Hainley
(Community Development Director)
is if this complies with preliminary
plat regulations.”
Six IPC members agreed with Gilbert and voted to approve the plat. p
In Depth News
Conservative Views
To advertise or subscribe
call
912-265-9654
Page 12, January 27, 2014, The Islander
Back
Talk
Seriously, WHAT
THE...?!?!?!
Growing up here in the 1960’s there
were two separate swimming pools on
Sea Island.
The Beach Club, located approximately where the new, expanded
pool and spa now sits, was the fancy
pool for hotel guests and Sea Island
residents.
To the south was the Casino, the
original hotel pool, a rectangular affair surrounded by a wooden deck and
wall. It was the older and plainer facility that had become the employees’
pool.
Both pools offered memberships to
the public, although they were limited and more expensive for the Beach
Club.
The Permars were members at the
Casino and my friends and I spent
countless summer days there.
As we got older and discovered
the joys of surfing (at 10 years old),
we gravitated towards the ocean and
spent less time at the pool.
But regardless of age, being adventurous as young boys are, we spent a
lot of time running around the sand
dunes immediately to the south of the
Matthew J. Permar
Publisher
The Islander
swimming pools. The dunes made up
the northern portion of what was always referred to as the “south end of
Sea Island.” It is bordered on the east
by the Atlantic and on the west by
Black Banks River.
Interwoven with horse trails used
by riders from the Sea Island Stables
on Frederica Rd., the dunes were a
vast outdoor playground where a boy’s
imagination could run free.
At some point, the company closed
the Casino, demolished it and expanded the Beach Club onto the property.
I don’t remember what year the Sea
Island Co. built the Cloister Ocean
Residences in the sand dunes south of
the Beach Club, but I remember thinking, “How the heck can they build on
sand dunes?!?! And why would they?!?
And how did the DNR let them?!?!”
Now the company is back and
wants to build eight more houses even
further to the south, farther into the
sand dunes. (See “Sea Island subdivision plat protested” on the front page
this week.)
A lot of environmentalists spoke
against the subdivision during the Island Planning Commission meeting
when the planners reviewed the preliminary site plan. They made some
excellent arguments and points.
The problem is, was, that the planning commission is only authorized to
take certain issues into consideration
Place this size
ad here for
$103
and reach your
market for an
entire week.
Call
912-265-9654
for preliminary plat applications.
Questions about the accuracy of the
jurisdictional lines placed on the property by regulatory agencies like the
Dept. of Natural Resources and Army
Corps of Engineers was simply not in
the planners’ purview.
Since all the plat’s particular i’s
and t’s had been dotted and crossed as
far as the Community Development
Dept. staff was concerned, the commission had no choice but to approve
it or they would have ended up on the
losing side of a law suit.
It was suggested by an audience
member who opposed the subdivision
that the planning commission served
no purpose if they could not reject the
plat application.
I would venture the opinion that
while they had no choice they still
provided an open forum for people
to learn about the project. And while
they were not required by ordinance
or regulation to let the public speak
during the meeting, the planning commission chairman gave the opposition
the opportunity to speak out.
A lot of the oppositions’ comments
were technical in nature and over my
head, but two things are abundantly
clear to me: this land is nothing but
beach, sand dune and marshy ground
and it is eroding.
The south end of Sea Island, south
of the jetty the company built to
EDITORIAL
protect their beach re-nourishment
project, is eroding. The proof in the
aerial photos is dramatic. Especially if
you know what that beach looked like
before the jetty was built.
I get that the company can make
millions selling the eight lots, but this
simply seems foolish to me.
So Long, Salty Dog
For the past five years the Glynn
County 4-H Advisory Council has
hosted their Salty Dog Sunday Fundraiser on the second Sunday in February, the Sunday after the Super
Bowl, and were in the planning stages
for the 6th Annual to take place in a
couple of weeks.
But things have changed and the
2014 Salty Dog Sunday event scheduled for February 9th has been canceled, according to Advisory Council
officials.
The Council would like to thank
Bennie’s Red Barn for so graciously
providing a home for the event and
Three of Us for being our event band.
The Council would also like to
thank all the local businesses that
freely donated items for the silent and
live auctions that were such a large
part of the event.
And finally, the Council offers a
large very sincere Thank You to all
the people who attended and made the
event the huge success it became. p
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