About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 2019)
Page 4, March 18, 2019, The Islander Appeals Board Continued from Page 2 didn’t know the rezoning application included all the property owned by the Wilsons, Buchanan’s and the Alvins, who are the other adjacent property owners.” “All this property was to be changed from MR to R-9. This was a substan tial loss in value to these families,” Williams said. Williams offered a history “of how we got here.” Apparently Duncan filed a quiet ti tle action claiming ownership of Plum- broke Road. The adjacent property owners filed responses in opposition to that quiet title action “There is an ongoing legal battle over ownership of that road,” Williams said, “and my clients don’t want to see anything done until the legal dispute over that road is resolved. I ask that you defer action until this law suit is resolved.” Fisher asked what the road owner ship had to do with the zoning vari ance request. He kept insisting that Duncan’s variance request has noth ing to do with the road. Williams said, “Until we have reso lution to the law suit, we don’t know what we can do with the remainder of the property.” “The use for Duncan’s property af fects what my clients can do with their property,” Williams continued. “Duncan can use what ever prop erty rights he’s currently got until we have a legal resolution to the lawsuit that he, Duncan, filed,” Williams said. The ZBA seemed surprised at this information. ZBA member Phil Viviani asked Lief if the road was an issue in the current variance application. She stated the road was not related to this specific issue; the 1940s plat shows legal access to these (Duncan’s) lots. Attorney Fleming Martin, repre senting Gloster Buchanan, another adjacent property owner, said that a considerable amount of property had been rezoned without the owners notification. ‘We are in middle of an ongoing dispute about the status of Plumbroke Road, who can use it, and whether the zoning is effective for everything shown on map,” Martin said. “This is a highly irregular situation and I want you to understand that. You all can’t determine if the road is private or not, or who can use it,” he said. Parker Morgan, an attorney rep resenting the Gibson family, also an adjacent property owner, said that Duncan filed the quiet title action to have a judge establish his, Duncan’s, ownership of the road. Morgan pointed out that the 1940 plat shows Lot 13, which is included as a platted lot of record on the parcel Duncan owns, is marked as a public park. “It’s clear on the 1940s plat that all the public rights of way including roads and parks are dedicated to the public forever,” Morgan said. “The county has filed a disclaimer of interest regarding the road,” Mor gan continued. “I don’t know what that means and Mr. Williams (attor ney Jim Williams) said he didn’t know what that means. It means nothing.” “The county has taken the position they have no interest in the road or park,” Morgan said. “It’s not just the road but one of the lots potentially ded icated to Glynn as public park is being considered for this zoning variance.” “The fact that this property is sub ject to ongoing litigation filed by Dun can is a major red flag,” Morgan said. “If county is aware of litigation that it is a party to, they can’t issue a building permit.” “Until a final resolution to the law suit and the quiet title action takes place you could grant a variance to build something on Lot 13 when the plat shows it as a park,” he said. “This 1940s plat was signed off on by County Engineer / Clerk Commis sioners of Roads and Revenues’ (H.J. Friedman May 15, 1940), and it is still pending in Superior Court as to whether Mr. Duncan legally owns the property and the county hasn’t tak en legal action to say they don’t own it. And while this is well beyond the ZBA’s purview, it is related,” Morgan said. Morgan continued, “There has been a lot of argument that down zoning caused the problem. But part of Sec tion 507 says that in residential dis tricts substandard lots shall only be used for single family purposed. Even if were still zoned medium residential, condos could not have been built. It would have been limited to single fam ily homes with a minimum lot width of 60 ft.” Hugh Bourke spoke in opposition saying the application is incomplete because input from adjacent property owners is required and was omitted. Julian Smith spoke and said 112 property owners were notified but not included in the packet. He also com mented that the homes would quite likely bought as an investment and used for rental. Ms. Capes who said she was an in dustrial developer and a friend of the adjacent land owners, said the land- owners intent was to move forward in their case to involve the county but were having hard time doing so with out suing the county over the disclaim er of interest. “No one legally knows how to deal with this disclaimer,” she said. She said the adjacent property own ers property would be landlocked with out a decision on the road. She also pointed out that it is illegal to subdi vide property with no access. “So when the road went away by the county’s disclaimer, those proper ties became landlocked. The owners don’t legally have a way to get to the back piece without crossing other indi vidual pieces of property,” she said. “That hasn’t been brought up,” she continued, and I wanted you to un derstand this. Duncan has no urgency to settle with the property owners as long as he can continue to do what he wants.” “This has caused hardship to these property owners in form of drawn out legal fees. Increasingly incurring these Turn to Page 8 Appeals Board Publisher's Statement THE ISLANDER (USPS 002430), A mem ber of the Georgia Press Association and Glynn Countys only weekly newspa- per is published 51 weeks a year for $35 per year in Glynn County and $40 per year in the United States outside Glynn County by Per- mar Publications, Inc., 1604 B Newcastle Street, Brunswick, GA 31525. Periodicals postage paid at Brunswick, GA. The Island er is also available to subscribers online at www.theislanderonline.com. Contents of The Islander, including advertising, may not be reprinted or repro duced in any form without written permis sion of the publishers. POSTMASTER send address change to The Islander, P.O. Box 20539, St. Simons Island, GA 31522. Mission Statement: to publish the truth without fear or favor. Established 1972 Matthew J. Permar - Publisher Elise J. Permar - Publisher 1972-2003 Gertrude Bradshaw - Co-Editor 1972-1991 Managing Editor & Advertising Manager Pamela P. Shierling 912-265-9654 Church News Patty Gibson - 912-638-8844 Contributors Ginny Johnson Phone Number 912-265-9654 email: ssislander@bellsouth.net theislanderonline.com Publication Deadline Publication Date: Every Monday Deadline: Thursdays, 12 PM for ads and news copy for the following Mon days edition. Holiday Deadline: Wednesdays, 12 PM for ads and news copy for the following Mondays edition. Holiday Schedule On Monday Post Office holidays, The Islander is prin ted on the Friday before. 2019 Postal Holidays Tuesday, January 1 New Year’s Day Monday, January 21 Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Monday, Februaiy 18 President’s Day / Washington’s Birthday Monday, May 27 Memorial Day Thursday, July 4 Independence Day Monday, September 2 Labor Day Monday, October 14 Columbus Day Monday, November 11 Veterans Day Thursday, November 28 Thanksgiving Day Wednesday, December 25 Christmas Day Award Winning Newspaper 1975 1980 1985 1976 19811992 1977 1982 1999 1978 1983 2002 1979 1984 2008 2012, 2016 AIRLINES ARE HIRING MM AVIATION INSTITUTE OF MAINTENANCE J Get FAA approved hands on Aviation training. Financial aid for qualified students - Career placement assistance. CALL Aviation Institute of Maintenance 866-564-9634 599 Beachview Dr • St. Simons Island 912.634.2122 ~ l.877.oceaninn www.oceaninnsuites.com Catty-comer from the Historic St. Simons Island Lighthouse Spring break is Inn your ” INN & SUITES "" “ w ^
