Newspaper Page Text
THE
^ISLANDER
Published by
Permar Publications
www.theislanderonline.com
ssislander@bellsouth.net
July 29, 2019
Established in 1972
Vol 47 Issue 30
South end speaks out
It was a standing room only crowd last week at Brunswick’s First Presbyterian Church as residents
of the city’s south end expressed their concerns about a proposed shelter for the homeless in their
neighborhood. Islander Staff Photo - Shierling
Residents up in arms over Hand in Hand
Golf cart law in
effect in 90 days
By Matthew J. Permar
In just under 90 days golf
cart drivers around Glynn
County will have a new set of
rules to follow.
During their regular meet
ing last week (Thursday, July
18) the Glynn County Board
of Commissioners unanimous
ly (BOC) approved a new set
of regulations governing golf
carts on the county’s public
roads.
Spearheaded by Islands
Commissioner Peter Murphy
(Dist. 2), the new regulations
follow and are in line with
Georgia state regulations.
The ordinance addresses
two types of vehicles PTVs
and LSVs.
• PTV - Personal Transpor
tation Vehicle: a four-wheeled
motor vehicle with a maxi
mum speed of less than 20
mph capable of transporting
Turn to Page 11
Golf cart laws
Oglethorpe
Center still 'on
go' with URA
• URA seeks office space
and an employee
By Matthew J. Permar
After going into closed ses
sion for personnel and real es
tate reasons last week (Thurs
day, July 25) Brunswick’s
Urban Redevelopment Agency
returned to open session and
voted to ‘proceed with the
Oglethorpe Convention Cen
ter as planned.’
Since it was discussed in
closed session there is no pub
lic record of the conversation.
While the Oglethorpe cen
ter project has suffered a num
ber of setbacks, particularly
relating to the high cost of the
building and the Brunswick
City Commission’s refusal to
borrow the additional money
Turn to Page 6
Brunswick URA
Last Tuesday evening a
crowd of angry property own
ers from Brunswick’s south
end filled the First Presbyte
rian Church’s meeting room to
overflowing and let the repre
sentatives from Hand in Hand
know that they did not want
“supportive” permanent hous
ing for 24 homeless people lo
cated in the south end of town.
According to their material,
Hand in Hand of Glynn, Inc.
is a 501c3 established in 2018
to eradicate chronic homeless
ness in Glynn County.
Anne Stembler, Jeffery
Clark, Linda Heagy, and
Katherine Thurber were the
board members who presented
the information to the public.
According to their hand
out, Hand in Hand is about
to purchase Harper’s Joy, the
former Brunswick Hospital
at 519 Norwich St., to house
24 chronically homeless per
sons. Harper’s Joy is located
By Pamela Permar Shierling
at the corner of Norwich St.
and First Avenue in the resi
dential neighborhood south of
Glouceter St.
Harper’s Joy, which cur
rently houses handicapped
adults, is owned by Distinctive
Housing Solutions, Inc., a do
mestic non-profit corporation.
The CFO is David Crews as
listed on the Georgia Secre
tary of State’s website. It was
purchased from Harper’s Joy
Inc. in 2007 for $1 million per
Glynn County tax records.
Crews is also listed as CFO
of Gateway Community Ser
vice Board.
Anne Stembler spoke first
and talked about the area’s
homeless programs and how
each program was different.
“We are raising private money
to purchase the building.”
Then she said, “We want
what’s best for the area.”
At this point the crowd
laughed.
Board member Jeffery
Clark interrupted and told the
crowd, “There are 400 home
less within a 10 block radius
in the city. They are in the
parks and abandoned build
ings. They are already in your
neighborhoods.”
“The Georgia Dept, of Com
munity Affairs has recognized
that this area has a homeless
problem and money is avail
able,” he continued.
“There are no services
available to the most vulnera
ble who live on the street or in
abandoned houses,” he said.
“Some of these people we can
not change, but we can create
a program to try to support
them by giving them a perma
nent place to live.”
Clark also told the crowd
that he was amazed that they
were concerned about what
Turn to Page 5
Hand in Hand
EPD terminates
JWSC consent
order
By Pamela Permar
Shierling
The Georgia Dept, of Natu
ral Resources Environmen
tal Protection Division (EPD)
has terminated the consent
order issued November 2014
requiring the Brunswick
Glynn Joint Water and Sewer
(JWSC) improve the condition
of the sewer systems.
Andrew Burroughs, In
terim Executive Director, re
ceived the termination notice
on July 22.
A consent order is an en
forcement action put forth by
EPD to require a system to
come back into compliance
with applicable regulations.
The order was issued by
EPD following a significant
sanitary sewer overflow on St.
Simons Island.
Turn to Page 8
JWSC consent order
JIA approves
new condo
design plan
By Pamela Permar
Shierling
Last week (July 16) the
Jekyll Island Authority ap
proved the revised design de
velopment plan for the Moor
ings at Jekyll Harbor.
The approval was subject to
further discussion and review
of Building A’s courtyard de
sign; to final Environmental
Assessment Procedure (EAP);
and to legal review. The plan
was updated to preserve wild
life corridors and to condense
the construction footprint.
The Moorings, developed
by Carolina Holdings Group,
will include 48 residences and
include 39 condominiums in
two buildings and nine town-
homes in the third building.
The buildings are four
Turn to Page 12
Jekyll condos
County-Wide News - Read County-Wide
Page 2 - Scott leaves Glynn for Vidalia
Page 3 - Sea Palms coming alive
under new management
Page 4 - Letters
Page 12 - Roadwork to continue on SSI
Page 13 - Sports with Dave Jordan
Page 14 - Pew News
Page 16- Back Talks
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