About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 2019)
THE ^ISLANDER Published by Permar Publications www.theislanderonline.com ssislander@bellsouth.net September 30, 2019 Established in 1972 Vol 47 Issue 39 County GIS wins international honors Glynn County Geographic Information Systems (GIS) employees were honored by the County Commission during the September 19 commission meeting for winning two awards - at the state and international levels - for their Unmanned Aerial System program - aka the drone program. The awards were given by the Government Management Information Systems (GMIS) organization in the G2G category. The G2G category is 'Government to Government’ and is given to govenment departments that show excellence in working with other government departments, be they local, state or federal level agencies. Glynn’s GIS Manager Bob Nyers (second from right) said his department mostly assists other Glynn County departments with their drone program. The group recieved the award at the GMIS conference in Orlando last month. Honored by the County Commission were FAA Certified Drone Pilots Michael Mazih (left to right) and Andrew Stickland. Along with the two drone pilots were Nyers and Information Technology (IT) Dept. Director John Catron. Not pictured is John Centeno, also an FAA Certified Drone Pilot for Glynn County. Islander Staff Photo - Permar URA sees designs for Ross Park splash pad By Matthew J. Permar Shierling Planners look at first draft zoning ordinance report By Matthew J. Permar Glynn County’s Mainland and Islands Planning Com missions (MPC & IPC) met for three hours without a break last Tuesday night (Sept. 24) in a joint meeting with county staff and members of the TSW consulting firm. Tuesday night’s meeting was to review the draft of the Diagnostic Report for the on going rewrite of the county zoning ordinances by the TSW consulting firm that was hired by the county to rewrite the zoning ordinance and subdivi sion regulations. The diagnostic report con sists primarily of questions about zoning policies and technical aspects of the zoning ordinance. Woody Giles of TSW said policy questions were big-pic- ture questions that focus on the practical impact of regula tions on development and the development process. These are the issues on which the county wants public input. They deal with issues like density, design standards, height limitations, open space and others. Technical questions, ac cording to Giles, may also deal with some policy issues, but are related to legal standards, usability, and other technical matters that may not require detailed public input. Turn out for Tuesday’s meeting was light with only about 17 people showing up not including county staff and the consultants. The well attended kick off meeting for this project was held in early May and three more drop-in type meetings have been scheduled for the weekend of October 4th and 5th. The first will be during the First Friday event in Turn to Page 6 Planning commissions Last week (Thursday, Sept. 26) Brunswick’s Urban Rede velopment Agency reviewed four design proposals from lo cal architect Robert Ussery for the structure that will ac company the Mary Ross Park splash pad. Ussery’s proposals were similar but of varying size and with different amenities. The building will hold the pumps and other equipment for the splash pad, along with bathrooms. At this point Ussery did not provide cost figures for the building because he first want ed to get some direction from the URA on what they were looking for. However, Ussery did give the URA what he called a “very rough guess” at a cost figure. The estimate Ussery gave was between $350,000 for the smaller building, up to $500,000 for the larger building. The group chose two plans (A and D) and asked Ussery to come back with some cost esti mates, so the URA can present them to the Brunswick City Commission. Plan A is the largest and in cludes additional toilet facili ties, an information center and large covered porch that goes all the way around the building for picnic tables and benches. By ‘additional toilet facilities,’ Ussery means more than the required minium. Plan A in cludes three toilets, two sinks and a shower in both the men’s and women’s bathrooms. Plan B includes the mini mum number of toilets, no in formation center and a covered area on two sides for some pic nic tables and benches. Plan B has one less toilet in each bathroom. Turn to Page 12 Mary Ross Park City ponders $55 million SPLOST list • Additional monies included for city conference center By Pamela Permar Shierling During a planning session last week (September 24) the Brunswick City Commission made a first pass at their SPLOST 2020 projects list to taling $55 million. The SPLOST 2020 list in cludes two amounts of addi tional funding for a conference center depending on the size of the center the city chooses to build. • $3.8 million - additional monies for a 20,000 sq. ft. Con ference Center or $1.8 million additional monies for a 12,000 sq. ft. to 13,000 sq. foot confer ence center. Regarding the conference center the city has three items Turn to Page 5 City SPLOST Trial date set for Bob Coleman • Insurance fraud case By Pamela Permar Shierling During a hearing before Su perior Court Judge David Cav- ender last Friday, a November 18, 9 a.m. trial date was set for Glynn County Commissioner Bob Coleman who is charged with two counts of insurance fraud and three counts of vio lating the Georgia Insurance Code’s reporting and disposi tion of premium requirement. Coleman has pled not guilty to the charges. Also on Friday, his wife, Sherry Coleman pled not guilty to four counts of insur ance fraud, four counts of vio lating the Georgia Insurance Code’s reporting and disposi tion of premium requirement, Turn to Page 12 Coleman County-Wide News - Read County-Wide Page 2 - NewCity Brunswick focuses on downtown Page 4 - GCAS, Coldwell Banker to sponsor adoption day Page 8 - Jl Arts Assn Oct. exhibit Page 13 - 2019 Football with Dave Jordan Page 14 - Pew - A Bahamian Thank You Page 16 - Back Talk 0 94922 29970 3
