About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 2019)
Page 6, September 23, 2019, The Islander SPLOST list Continued from Page 1 after the year it is approved by the voters. The SPLOST 2020 subject came up during the BOC’s work session last week (Sept. 17) and was briefly discussed. County Manager Alan Ours gave the BOC a copy of a lengthy list of some 83 projects that could potentially be on a SPLOST ballot. Naturally, the list, which was put together by county department heads, is not what will end up on the final bal lot. It is only a starting point for dis cussion for the BOC and will be much shorter when it gets to the referendum. The list was broken down into sev eral categories including road and resurfacing projects; traffic projects; drainage projects; sidewalk projects; vertical construction; recreation proj ects; bridge; Information Technology and shoreline projects. With two exceptions, the commis sion avoided vertical projects on the last SPLOST (2016) focusing on infra structure, and while this list has 11 vertical projects, many will likely not make the final cut. An addition to the County Court house is probably the most significant project on the vertical projects portion of the list. Glynn County Senior Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett and Judge Stephen Kelley appeared at a BOC work session several months ago to express their concerns about the al most 30 year old courthouse. The concerns were with overcrowd ing and the need to upgrade security. They said the issues were not criti cal yet, but would be at some point in the future. They believe it is time to start looking for a solution instead of waiting until the situation is criti cal, because as the county continues to grow, the need for the court system also will continue to grow. The BOC’s response, at the request of Judges Scarlett and Kelley, was to appoint a committee of experts to work with the judges on a solution. That work is ongoing, but at a recent meet ing the committee concurred with the judges that their concerns are valid and something needs to be done. The courthouse would likely be a high dollar project and the early dis cussions included the possibility of breaking the costs up by doing the project in phases. A final decision on the courthouse project has not been made as yet. Other possible projects on the ‘ver tical construction’ portion of the pro posed SPLOST 2017 list include: • fire station upgrades; • a vehicle and equipment wash; • a joint facility containing a train ing facility, EMA facility, a secondary 911 site, a training tower, a class A burning building and a range for all law enforcement in the area; • upgrades to the Public Safety building and • several building upgrades or re placements at the Blythe Island Re gional park. The list of sidewalk projects is the next lengthiest at 18. They range from north and south St. Simons to Hwy. 17, the Southport Parkway and the Gold en Isles Parkway on the mainland. It also includes crossings from neighborhoods on the west side of Frederica Rd. to the sidewalk on the east side. Drainage projects, also county-wide take up another 18 spots on the list. These will likely be a priority again as they were on SPLOST 2016. The 11 road and resurfacing proj ects are all on the mainland and in clude the reconstruction of Old Jesup Rd. from Community Rd. to Crispen Blvd. This is an approximately 4 mile stretch of heavily traveled, single lane road. Several intersection improve ments have been made along Old Je sup Rd. over the years that have great ly helped the flow of traffic. This list also includes the second phase of paving Pennick Rd. There are 7 traffic projects on the list, two on the mainland, four on St. Simons and one being a traffic im provements study for St. Simons. The St. Simons projects also include traffic improvements at the Gateway onto the island. There are 12 recreation projects listed that, along with upgrades to the Fun Zone swimming pool and the vil lage pier on St. Simons, includes the Coast Guard Station Beach master plan. There have been two master plans for the Coast Guard Station beach parking lot. The first was done sever al years ago by local architect Robert Ussery at the request of the BOC. The BOC held a number of town hall meet ings to discuss this project and then abandoned it due to public opposition. This original plan basically left the parking lot with the same footprint but corrected the drainage problems, got rid of the lime rock paving and added some landscaping. More recently the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, in conjunction with their new museum in the former Coast Guard Station, had a second, much more extensive, master plan done for the beach parking lot. No cost estimates were ever given for this new master plan, nor was there any discussion about who would pay for it’s construction, but it is the one listed on the SPLOST 2020 list. The recreation list also includes a new public boat ramp and improved parking at Village Creek on St. Si mons. There was a Dept, of Natural Resources grant available at one time for this project, but it never got off the ground due to public opposition to a land swap with the former Village Creek owners. There is also new playground equip ment for a number of mainland parks on the list along with a number of improvements at Blythe Island Re gional Park. 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