About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 2019)
THE ^ISLANDER Published by Permar Publications www.theislanderonline.com ssislander@bellsouth.net August 5, 2019 Established in 1972 Vol 47 Issue 31 East Beach roundabout approved • Memorial benches coming to Gascoigne By Matthew J. Permar During their regular meet ing last week (Thursday Aug. 1) the Glynn County Board of Commissioners (BOC) voted 6-1 to move forward with con struction of the roundabout at the intersection of Ocean Blvd. and the East Beach Causeway on St. Simons. Commissioner Bob Cole man (At Large #2) was the nay vote. Public Works Director Dave Austin said the project will be under construction sometime next month once the summer beach season is over. The cost of the roundabout was estimated at $1.2 mil lion for the SPLOST 2016 referendum. Turn to Page 5 Roundabout County okays employee upgrades By Matthew J. Permar Last Thursday (Aug. 1) the Glynn County Board of Com missioners (BOC) unanimous ly approved a staff organiza tional change that included pay raises and increased sal ary grades for 11 employees. Based on a pay grades and classification study done by the Archer Company of Rock Hill, North Carolina, the to tal salary increase for the 11 employees was $51,600 and represented a 5% increase for each employee. The employees also re ceived a jump-up in their pay grade, while four got new job titles. During the classification review that was conducted by Archer for the department Turn to Page 4 County pay raise City drainage Lanier Blvd. not ready for prime time The City of Brunswick was almost finished with their 10 miles of road paving and then ran into a problem with Lanier Boulevard. Storm drain pipes cross Lanier in four places, accord ing to City Engineer Garrow Alberson, and these pipes were in much worse shape than originally thought and must be replaced. The project would have been finished in time for Glynn County’s school start date of August 8 except that the city is waiting on Atlanta Gas Light to move a gas line that runs By Pamela Permar Shierling parallel to Lanier Blvd. on the west side of the road. “We can’t finish the drain work and paving until the gas line is moved,” Alberson said. “We are hoping the line will be moved within the next two weeks and then we can finish the pipe work.” What the crews found dur ing the paving is that some of the huge 36” drain pipes were broken and some had com pletely disappeared into the marsh muck. “We will use rock and a geo-textile fabric under the new pipes to keep them from sinking,” Alberson said. All the pipe and gas line work will take place between Prince Street and Fourth Avenue. “The contractor is trying to keep Lanier as passable as possible until the work is done,” Alberson said. What parents taking their children to Glynn Middle School should watch for is one lane traffic from Fourth Av enue north on Lanier to the school. Two lanes will be open to traffic north of the school but may not be paved. Top photo: The Brunswick City drainage project along Lanier Blvd. Photo taken facing north. 4th Ave. is to the rear. Glynn Middle school is to the left. Bottom photo: The work location, photo taken facing 4th Ave. to the south. Islander Staff Photos - Permar County-Wide News - Read County-Wide Page 2 - City Finance Committee meets - Motion filed to suppress GBNET requested traffic stop Page 8 - Jekyll Island Art Assoc Exhibit Page 11 - College names new VP Page 13 - Sports with Dave Page 14 - Pew News Page 16- Back Talk Another Guale Preserve wrinkle By Pamela Permar Shierling You can’t get there from here. The Glynn County Board of Commissioners received notice last Thursday (August 1) from the Augusta law firm, Hull Barrett, stating that the right to cross their client’s property at the end of Village Drive does not extend to the St. Simons Land Trust. The property in question belongs to a homeowner in the German Village subdivision. The German Village Prop erty Owners Association (POA) has for almost three years objected to the use of their only subdivision road by the St. Simons Land Trust (SSLT) to access the water front portion of the 258 acre Guale Preserve (formerly Musgrove Plantation. Turn to Page 10 Guale Preserve Terry Creek consent decree approved By Pamela Permar Shierling According to documents filed August 1 in the U.S. Dis trict Court Southern District, the Consent Decree (CD) filed in May 2018 by the Environ mental Protection Agency (EPA) and Hercules detailing the clean up of the Terry Creek outfall ditch or Operable Unit 1. (OU1) was approved by the court to move forward. This decision went against both the City and County Commissions as well as the lo cal state legislative delegation along with over 100 comments from the community stating that the remedy prescribed for OU1 was not enough. The crux of the clean up matter is the hazardous Turn to Page 6 Terry Creek 0 9492229970 3
