Jekyll safe for the time being

April 24, 2007
Macon Telegraph

For the moment, the pristine treasure that lies off the Georgia coast, Jekyll Island, is safe. The state Senate turned back a fairly deceptive effort to open up doors to development of the island. By law 65 percent of Jekyll must remain in its natural state. At question was the southern end of the island that now has soccer fields, a 4-H camp and a couple of dozen homes. That area is part of the 35 percent that can be developed, and the area that brought out, according to state Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Gwinnett, "lobbyists in alligator shoes."

"Do you want Jekyll to look like another Hilton Head?" Unterman asked. "... Another Panama City?"

Interestingly enough, Ross Tolleson, R-Perry, was leading the charge to obfuscate the bill enough to open the door for development. While he couched his effort to amend the HB 214 as protecting the island, it would have made it almost impossible to do. One of his amendments would have required a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly to stop the Jekyll Island Authority from changing the masterplan. That's an almost impossible task.

State Sen. Regina Thomas, D-Chatham, said the discussion was getting "so deep, that I started to go to my car and get my boots...."

"We want to destroy everything, she said. "All for the sake of the mighty dollar."

Leading the charge to save the south end of the island was state Sen. Jeff Chapman, R-Brunswick. His amendments did three things:

• Protected the south end of the island from development while allowing what's there now to remain;

• Prevented homeowners now living on the island from selling their properties for a multi-family developments;

• Gives the state a say in development plans.

The Senate said "no" to development. All of the amendments brought by Sen. Tolleson were defeated. The amendments suggested by Sen. Chapman were approved. Everyone should be happy now, except those lobbyists in the alligator shoes representing developers. The bill gives the Jekyll Island Authority another 129 years of life, meaning it can assign long leases that make it profitable to redevelop properties already on Jekyll, and it protects the island, for now, for generations of future Georgians to enjoy.