Jekyll Island State Park and a Senate hearing

Senator Jeff Chapman has 3 bills up for consideration by the Economic  Development Committee of the Georgia State Senate. It's a very developer friendly lot. It's important to keep calling these guys to let them know that Senator Chapman's bill deserves to be heard by the Senate.

Please call:

Chip Pearson, head of the committee;

Sen. Rogers; Sen. Carter; Sen. Brown; Sen. Chance; Sen. Hooks; Sen. Mullis; Sen. Schaefer; Sen. Tarver; Sen. Thompson; and Sen. Jackson.

Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, who favors the Linger Longer/JIA plan (as an ex-officio member of the JIA) will probably give you this standard answer which sounds like it's written by LLC:

I serve as an ex-officio member of the Jekyll Island Authority. I have been involved in the discussions and plans on how to move Jekyll Island forward and I believe you will be very pleased. Under the legislation passed last year, 65% of the island is required be left as green space and remain accessible to Georgians. There was never any discussion on changing these policies. I, too, love Jekyll Island and want it to stay accessible, environmentally protected, and affordable. But also, like you, I don't want it to continue to deteriorate. So, I supported allowing the cautious, environmentally-sensitive redevelopment of the
island using market forces.

"Cautious, environmentally sensitive" would be not putting a "town center" on the beach of a ecologically fragile barrier island where sea turtles nest. But maybe that's just me.

The three bills sponsored by Senator Chapman, SB 426, 427, and 428, would prevent the conservative redevelopment and beautification of Jekyll.  Instead, they would only allow the island to continue to deteriorate without bringing in the environmentally-sensitive redevelopment needed to keep the island beautiful.

From what I can tell- and I've read all three- one of  Chapman's bills basically prevents new development on the beach front of the island and one bans new permanent residences (condos and houses). In other words, two of the main components of the Linger Longer/JIA plan. It doesn't stop complete "environmentally sensitive" redevelopment of existing properties nor does it stop new development proposals that would be on the west side of Beachview drive (in other words, across the street from the ocean and back, as long as it doesn't encroach on protected land).

Furthermore, maintaining Jekyll Island's accessibility to the public has been a chief aim of the Jekyll Island Authority. The company who recently won the bid to redevelop a small portion of the public areas of Jekyll won the bid largely because of their commitment to building different options for hotels and condo rentals. Under their proposal, there will be new low and moderate priced rental options as well as higher priced hotels. So all Georgians will be able to continue to enjoy everything Jekyll has to offer.

Yours for a better Georgia,

Senator Eric Johnson
President Pro Tempore

The "small portion of public areas" is the main and most popular public beach. The largest of Linger Longer’s three hotels (400 rooms) will have an average daily room rate of $183 and well over $200 in the summer season, when Georgians typically vacation on Jekyll. Linger Longer’s ‘economy’ hotel (the one for “average Georgians“) has 125 rooms and is located as far from the beach as the town center development site would allow.

Senator Chapman put out this press release last week:

Sen. Jeff Chapman Introduces Stewardship Legislation for Jekyll

ATLANTA –Sen. Jeff Chapman (R-3rd District), representing the coastal region of south Georgia, including Jekyll Island, introduced three bills, SB 426, SB 427, and SB 428, in response to a ground swell of opposition to the development of a condo-hotel-retail “town center” on Jekyll’s main beach. These bills provide long-term stewardship for Jekyll Island State Park and limit commercial-private development in all State parks, historic areas, memorials, and recreational lands.

Probably the most popular bill of the three, SB 427, provides the legal language needed to prevent the commercialization of Jekyll’s remaining open expanse of beachfront. The legislation would preserve the seashore in its natural beauty into perpetuity. According to Sen. Chapman, the open expanse of Jekyll’s main beach is one of island’s most beautiful features and the centerpiece of the park’s attraction to visitors.

The overwhelming comments Sen. Chapman has received from around the state show that citizens, by and large, stand opposed to building a town center in a State Park, particularly on a public beach that belongs to all Georgians. The major message I hear, Sen. Chapman related, is “Let’s rebuild and revitalize existing facilities instead of encouraging massive new development. My purpose with this legislation is to honor the wishes of the people of Georgia, honor the original charter for Jekyll, and prevent a King Midas touch from destroying the peaceful, natural beauty of the people’s seashore.”

The first bill of the three-part package, SB 426, creates an overarching principle for all of Georgia’s state parks, historic areas, memorials, and recreational lands. Primarily, it seeks to prevent state-owned properties from becoming targets for future residential development. The bill prohibits the building of single-family or multi-family residential housing or condominiums on all publicly-owned land in the state park system.

SB 428, the final bill, addresses the issue of keeping Jekyll Island affordable for all Georgians. It requires that 70 percent of all new accommodations will not exceed the annual average daily rate of other lodgings in Georgia’s state park system. The legislation does not affect existing hotels and allows for up to 30 percent of new rooms on the island to be priced on the high end. In addition, the bill provides needed legal definitions to prevent loopholes that exist in current law from being exploited in future development projects. Overall, these three bills accomplish everything necessary to ensure the revitalization of Jekyll and provide for the long-term stewardship of the people’s park.

Again, please call members of the committee and urge them to hold a Senate hearing on the Chapman legislation.