Marsh buffer change nears approval

By EMILY STRANGER | The Brunswick News
January 28, 2007

Both James Holland and Grant Dean drove five hours Tuesday to Atlanta for the same purpose but with totally opposite mindsets.

Holland, the Altamaha Riverkeeper, and Dean, a property owner in Darien, have been butting heads for months.

Their quandary: proposed amendments that would change a 25-foot buffer rule in the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act to a 50-foot requirement.

The new rules would only apply to projects that need a Coastal Marshlands Protection Act Permit – like marinas, parking lots and large bridges – and would not pertain to private property developments.

On Tuesday, the Coastal Committee of the Department of Natural Resources agreed that the proposed amendments should be passed into agency rule.

The full board of the DNR was to vote today on the amendments.Both Holland and Dean left the public hearing Tuesday disappointed.

Both wanted to see the measure tabled, though for different reasons.

Holland thinks the buffer should apply to all property within 50-feet, and not just those structures requiring a permit.

Dean carries a different opinion."I think they should have left the 25-foot buffer as it was," he said. "If they came and looked at my waterfront
property, they would see that a 50-foot buffer will likely shut down any use I have of it, and the shrimping business that is already there.

"Regardless of how the full board votes, the two have their eyes on an even larger and prominent rule looming on the steps of Georgia's capitol: House Bill 50.

Proposed by Rep. Harry Geisinger, R-Roswell, the legislation – if passed – would ban all development from being built within 50 feet of the marsh.

This would mean no private docks, no houses, and definitely no businesses. And no exceptions.

"I think it's sad that we have to rely on representatives in northern Georgia to protect out coastline because no one will here (along the coast)," Holland said.

Dean said it violates property rights.

At least one member of the local delegation feels the same way.

"I agree we need to control the sediments from flowing into the marsh, but this 50-foot buffer is regulated taking and not right," Sen. Jeff Chapman, R-Brunswick, said.

And as for House Bill 500? Chapman says forget it.

"That is absurd," he said. "I believe that the legislative process will take its proper course, and hopefully it will be done away with and not passed."