The main public beach on Jekyll Island State Park suddenly has a reprieve. And I have to say, I'm shocked. Thrilled. Cautiously ecstatic.
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. The condos and hotels will be relocated.
Holy cow. For some time now I've been writing about the attempt by Linger Longer Communities and the Jekyll Island Authority to put a large and unwanted development of hotels and condos on a stretch of publicly owned beach that currently contains four public parking lots. And Wednesday? A small taste of vindication for the little guy.
Now before I start dancing in the streets, I have to temper my excitement with a little dose of reality.
"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 island authority now plans to "re-establish native growth and improve the dune structure" in the area as well, Porter wrote.
The decision announced Wednesday affects just a small portion of the $352 million effort to upgrade island facilities, many of which have lapsed into disrepair.
But it delivers a happy ending to a short and strange chapter that saw local residents, annual vacationers and environmentalists banding together to save an admittedly unattractive and crumbling piece of pavement -- located just north of a convention center that is also unattractive and crumbling.
The letter was released in order to fend off more legislative attempts to restrict Jekyll developers, in the final days of the current session of the General Assembly. None has been successful, but the efforts have generated thousands of telephone calls and e-mails to lawmakers since January.
The proposal was bound to face challenges in permitting that could have kept the development tied up in legal challenges for years. By dropping the most controversial aspect of the plan now, LLC avoids a delay in construction once the revised design is approved and the JIA avoids legislation that bars development on the beach- leaving the idea open to be revisited at some future point in time. I still don't trust them. I agree with Rep. Buckner:
Chapman said legislation about the beach now looked unlikely to pass before the session's final day Friday, though Buckner said legal protections would further remove any doubts about the area's future.
"My distrustful nature would feel extremely comfortable if it were carved in stone that this will always be a beach," Buckner said.
David Egan, who heads the Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island, said there were still concerns that Linger Longer would not scale back the project but would instead merely rearrange it. And he said his group was still uneasy with any building, including the Environmental Conservation Center, being placed on the shoreline.
"Unfortunately, we're not going to be able to see what the new proposal is going to look like until the General Assembly's session is over," he said.
That being said. Holy cow.
A small group of people who grew concerned over earlier development ideas floated by the JIA in 2007 decided to form an initiative, make a website and actually ask folks what they thought was the best course of action for this beautiful state park. Thousands and thousands of people joined that initiative and called their Senators and Representatives, voicing their objections to the 63-acre development proposal and partnership involving Linger Longer Communities. It has been an amazing grassroots effort that I've been so proud to be a part of.
We still don't know what the final plans are- something will be built but how much and where is still under wraps and won't be unveiled until after the chance to impose legislation passes. And we'll still be watching them like hawks. But for right now I'm cautiously ecstatic.
And by the way, I still want everyone who can get there to visit my beloved little state park. Stay at one of the beachfront hotels or at the Jekyll Island Club, or even at the campground. Rent a bike and cruise around the island on paths that run from breathtaking marshland stillness to right along the dunes, with open views of the ocean that might make you fall off your bike if you aren't careful. Walk on driftwood beach at sunset, it's romantic as hell. Get a pound of boiled shrimp at the Rah Bar, dip them in sinfully buttery buffalo sauce (trust me) and wash it down with a beer as old sea gulls hang out on nearby posts, playing the part of perfectly willing photography subjects. Have Sunday brunch at the Club, an experience you and your stomach will never forget. And then spend the rest of the day sitting on the wide stretch of sand that is the main public beach, watching kids discover sand and waves and water as little birds come by, pausing to see if you have any spare food.
Just remember to thank David and Mindy Eagan, Senator Jeff Chapman and Rep. Debbie Buckner. The little guys.