Marsh dispute widens

February 13, 2007
By HANK ROWLAND | The Brunswick News

Weeks of growling and hissing that have marked public response to new rules proposed for
major development near a marsh have reached the Glynn County Courthouse.

And now, the Glynn County Commission may join the chorus of opponents.

That's the hope of county commissioner Cap Fendig, anyway.

Fendig says the state will be asking too much of landowners and the counties they live in if it follows through on a recommendation to require a 50-foot buffer. The buffer, in which nothing could be constructed, would be required for any commercial or large-scale development near a marsh.

Recommended by a study committee, the buffer will be considered by the board of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources this month.

"I have received many calls against this 50-foot buffer recommendation," Fendig said Monday. "I personally believe the amount is excessive."

Fendig is not advocating scraping buffers. But "marsh buffers should be 25 feet and site specific," he said.

Buffers are being proposed to protect marshes from runoff.

Fendig said it's the county that will end up having to enforce the new rule, if it passes.

"Inspection of a buffer should be made specific to the site and a determination made as to what is needed to effectively combat runoff pollution and what vegetation plantings will assist the buffer zone to be effective," he said.

The board of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources is not the only level of state government that may act on the recommendation. Georgia legislators also are pondering a law mandating the rule.

Fendig hopes he can convince other members of the Glynn County Commission to stand up to the proposal. He will ask the commission to take an official position via passage of a resolution when it meets at 6 p.m. Thursday at the old county courthouse.

Altamaha Riverkeeper James Holland, leading one of the most vocal environmental groups on the Georgia coast, hopes the commission declines.

"There's absolute good science out there that supports a 75-foot buffer," Holland said.

The 50-foot buffer, opposed by property owners who claim it would be taking their land without compensation, was a compromise between proponents of 25 feet and advocates of 75 or more feet.

Holland questions the effectiveness of a 50 foot buffer.

"That's not quite enough, but it's better than 25," Holland said.

Holland said it may not matter what the county commission or anyone else does. He predicts the buffer will pass with or without Coastal Georgia's help.

"It's going to take the people away from the coast to do it, unfortunately," he said. "That's sad. The people in Atlanta see more in our coastal salt marshes than the people who live here."