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500 THE S LAND E R“s www.theislanderonline.com • November 22, 2010 Established 1972 ssislander@bellsouth.net Vol 38 Issue 47 GCAC turns County down on land swap By Pamela Permar Shierling Glynn County Commis sioners Tony Thaw and Don Hogan appeared before the Glynn County Airport Com mission (GCAC) Wednesday, November 17 in an effort to convince the GCAC to swap airport and county land at St. Simons McKinnon Airport. Thaw, who has spearhead ed the move to build a gym nasium on St. Simons Island, asked the GCAC to swap the old boat yard property (which is next to the gas station) for the county-owned acreage near the Demere Road fire station so the gym could be built in a central location on the island. In a presentation prepared by Rusty Bolt, GCAC chair man, the airport commission cannot swap the land for three reasons: the Commission can not certify to FAA that the property is not needed to sup port Glynn County Airports; cost (minimum $3.1 million loss) threatens GCAC self-suf ficiency; safety — airports are dangerous locations. Bolt followed with a detailed explanation of the three fac tors. Continuing, Bolt told Thaw, Hogan and GCAC members that Glynn County owns the land around the airport as long as it is used for aviation purposes or is used to create revenue for aviation use. The land was given to the County by the U.S. Government with this contingency. The land or its value reverts to the U.S. Government if it is not used as mandated. Neither the GCAC nor the comity commission is empow ered to trade or swap property under its control without FAA approval. According to FAA policy, release will not be granted Turn to Page 6 No deal Downtown streetscape continues Brunswick's downtown streetscape project is continuing in the block of Newcastle south of Mansfield St. in front of Old City Hall. Islander Staff Photo - Permar Downtown Streetscape extended to Hanover Square By Pamela Permar Shierling In the planning for more than a decade, the final block of the downtown streetscape is nearing completion on Newcas tle St. south past Old City Hall to Howe Street and Hanover Square. The labor for the project is being done by the detainee workforce provided by Geor gia's Department of Correc tions. The design work was done in house by the City's engi neering department. Land scape architect Jerry Spencer has provided, on a volunteer basis, the landscape and irri gation system designs. According to Mayor Bryan JWSC to suspend tap fees By Pamela Permar Shierling At the Thursday, Novem ber 18 meeting the Brunswick Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer Commission (JWSC) passed a resolution to suspend tap in fees for a six month period ending May 31, 2011. The suspension will go into effect as soon as the required advertising period is over. The fee suspension of capital tap fees includes new construction for homes and businesses as well as owners of existing struc tures who want to tap in to the system. If the JWSC decides to upgrade the system, it, not the home or business owner, will pay for the upgrade. Request for Proposals (RFPs) will be sent out before Thanks giving for demolition and asbes tos removal at the old Day's Inn site. The JWSC purchased the site, which will be its new home, earlier in November for $610,800. JWSC Chairman Tony Sammons said the owner of the property reduced the price to the JWSC to cover the cost of demolition and asbestos removal. □ Thompson the project cost estimate is $10,0000 and will come out of the City's public works budget. "We are sav ing anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000 on this project by using the inmate labor, Jer ry's volunteer time plus our own in-house designs," Mayor Bryan Thompson said. This new section will repli cate the rest of the downtown sreetscape and include Crepe Myrtles and palm trees. "We are getting creative in how we do things in this tight economy," Thompson said. "We may remove and transplant from other parks. And rather than low ground cover we are looking at grass." Bricks and pavers that were left over from the Old City Hall renovation have been held in storage and will be used for a crosswalk at Mansfield and Newcastle Streets. Turn to Page 5 Downtown streetscape County looks to collect unpaid bed tax • $700K could be at stake By Matthew J. Permar Several decades ago the state gave local governments the authority to enact a self- imposed tax upon hotels and motels, the Accommodation Excise tax, the lodging tax or, as it's commonly known, the bed tax. The tax is collected and kept by the comity, as opposed to the SPLOST (Special Pur pose Local Option Sales Tax) revenues which are collected locally then sent to the Dept, of Revenue in Atlanta and then remitted back to the county. When the state passed the bed tax legislation, members of Glynn County's hospitality association got together and asked the Glynn County Com mission to support passage of Turn to Page 5 Unpaid bed tax IPC rejects amended PD Text for Red Barn development By Pamela Permar Shierling A large crowd packed the St. William Catholic Church's meeting room Tuesday, November 16, to protest or to speak in favor of a requested rezoning amendment to the Planned Development (PD) text for the Red Bam develop ment. The PD text amendment was heard the first time in September and deferred so the applicant could make changes. At the second hearing in Octo ber the decision was deferred because the meeting location change was not announced in the required time. At last Tuesday's meeting Island Planning Commission Turn to Page 6 Red Barn rejected Surfin’ the News ^9 Morgan Center Community News - Pg 2 County-Wide News - Read County-Wide Football Contest Feature Section - Pg 8 & Pg 9 The Kids Are Alright Movie Review -Pg 12 Back Talk Editorial Column -Pg 20