Flood insurance ups stakes for Jekyll

April 19, 2007
By Dan Chapman | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Developers, keen to build as much as $3 billion in houses, condos, hotels and shops on Jekyll Island, received a little-noticed gift lastfall from Congress with approval of taxpayer-subsidized flood insurance for some of the island's most coveted property.

Environmentalists and outdoor enthusiasts reacted angrily Wednesday when told that the 4-H Center, soccer complex and other south end properties were now eligible for flood insurance and, consequently, development. Federally backed insurance can lessen development costs, particularly in flood zones.

The future of Jekyll — "a state park for the plain people of Georgia," according to a former governor — has evolved into a classic developer-vs.-preservationist struggle spiced with political arm-twisting and legislative grandstanding.

State senators are scheduled to vote today on House Bill 214 extending the state-owned island's lease, as well as an amendment prohibiting development of Jekyll's south end.

The flood insurance news "is just an invitation to have a whole lot more development on the south end," said Jekyll Island Authority board member Ed Boshears, who opposes building there.

"It's evidence that some people are planning large-scale condominium development down there. That's really what this whole thing is about."

Jekyll authorities, though, say no development decisions have been made anywhere on the island.

Until informed Tuesday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, state Sen. Jeff Chapman, a Brunswick Republican who represents Jekyll, didn't know that the 4-H Center and soccer complex were eligible for flood insurance.

"That's going to put a real interesting twist on the situation," said Chapman, who plans to offer amendments to quash south end development and the addition of new condos anywhere on Jekyll. "It seems obvious that the development of [the south end] was somewhat premeditated."

In 1982, Congress approved the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA) to protect environmentally sensitive land ribboning the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The law prohibited federal dollars, particularly subsidized flood insurance, from encouraging development in coastal regions susceptible to hurricanes and floods.

Congress strengthened CBRA eight years later by making state parks, like Jekyll, ineligible for the National Flood Insurance Program. Jekyll homeowners, unable to get inexpensive insurance, weren't happy.

It wasn't until 2002 that Tise Eyler, president of the island's residents association, asked U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) for help in exempting Jekyll from the CBRA. Eyler, along with the Jekyll Authority, told Kingston that the island, with its 630 homes, wasn't atypical state park and, therefore, should be eligible for federal insurance.

"We were inappropriately placed in that restrictive category," Eyler said. "But without the state's involvement, we wouldn't even havegotten to first base, as homeowners, with Congress."

In 1996, faced with the prospect of declining revenues, the Jekyll Authority unveiled a master plan for the island's development. It suggested a "South End Village" on the 4-H and soccer properties.

An updated 2004 plan proposed 87 cottages on the soccer fields selling for up to $800,000. Developers have since rolled out plans for huge residential and retail projects islandwide with particular focus on the beachfront south end.

The authority insists, and the Legislature concurs, that 65 percent of the island remain development-free.

Kingston, of nearby Savannah, introduced legislation in January 2005 allowing flood insurance on the 35 percent of Jekyll where development is allowed. Hurricane Katrina hit two months later. Legislators weren't keen to put taxpayers on the hook for more subsidized insurance in light of that disaster.

Still, Kingston's bill survived. In April 2006, Mamie Parker, an assistant director with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, testified before Congress that Jekyll didn't necessarily fit into the CBRA's state park designation because of the homes and other buildings.

Fish and Wildlife did not oppose Kingston's bill. But the service didn't support it either — an important distinction, according to Katie Niemi, the agency's coastal barriers coordinator.

"Presumably, Congress saw development on the island in 1990 on a Fish and Wildlife map and that was sufficient for them" to prohibit state parks from receiving flood insurance, she said.

President Bush signed the bill into law on Oct. 16.

Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington, lambasted Congress for potentially adding to the flood insurance program's $20 billion debt.

"Developers find valuable lands along the coast they like and then get the feds to underwrite their developments," he said.

In addition to the residences, hotels, restaurants, soccer fields and 4-H Center, another 100 undeveloped acres are eligible for flood insurance, said Bill Donohue, executive director of the Jekyll Authority.

He added that developers played no role in the state's push for flood insurance.

Jim Stokes, president of the Georgia Conservancy, an environmental group, said it would have been prudent stewardship of a valuable state asset to keep the soccer fields and 4-H Center out of the insurance program and away from developers.

"Why do you need flood insurance on a soccer field?" he asked. "It gives very specific and definitive confirmation of plans to develop the south end of the island. All along there have been assurances from [the authority] that they have an open mind and no definite development plans."

Neither the authority nor the Legislature is close to determining the south end's future, Donohue said.

"We felt the soccer fields and the 4-H Center should be insured rather than carved out specifically [because they] could be damaged by flood," Kingston said.

Jekyll homeowners can receive up to $250,000 for homes and $100,000 for contents, according to the federal agency that runs the flood insurance program. Commercial property owners can receive up to $500,000 for structures and another $500,000 for contents.

"Flood insurance is particularly important to any residential development, including existing residences anywhere on Jekyll Island," said Joe Tanner, a lobbyist for Greene County developers.