About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2020)
Page 2, July 27, 2020, The Islander , Island iICE Hardware 1701 Frederica Rd. St. Simons Island 912-638-3800 insurance,” Jensen said. “Since Je- kyll is a class 5 rating the discount is 25%.” There are 10 rate classes. “Normally the rating results come in January,” Jensen said, “but they were late this year due to COVID.” In the first contract of its kind, the JIA signed an agreement with The Fendig Company LLC dba Lighthouse Trolleys, authorizing the company to use JIA property to conduct tours. The JIA can require tour opera tors to enter into a lease for tours to be operated on JIA property, includ ing JIA roads. This is stated in the Jekyll Is land Ordinance Sec. 20-47. The JIA also has a general right to regulate activity within their jurisdictional boundaries. The Authority is aware of other tour operators and is working on leases with those entities. The Lighthouse Trolley lease is for two years; base rent is $2,660 per year, percentage rent is 3% for tours that originate on Jekyll and 1% for tours originating off the island. The lease allows Lighthouse to use four specific parking spaces at the Morgan Center. The lease includes a two year re newal clause subject to mutual rent al negotiation and possible change of parking location. Come see our newest addition at Island Ace Hardware The BI Cj Cj GSt Green Egg of them all, the unrivaled 2XL EGG can easily handle your family reunion or cookouts with large groups - and is more than large enough to satisfy restaurant and catering needs. You'll need to gather a crowd to tackle all of the ribs, steaks and burgers this EGG can handle... all at once! You can even roast a suckling pig ... explore all the culinary possibilities with the new 2XL! The 2XL EGG can cook: 35-40 burgers, 14-16 whole chickens, 18-20 steaks, 20 mouth-watering racks of rib vertically, or 1 perfectly crisp suckling pig. 3 AG IE 2 N JIA Continued from Page 1 daily traffic is down anywhere from 15% to 22% over last year, but, he continued, “There is no convention business on Jekyll, tour bus traffic is down, and Summer Waves is lim ited to 50% capacity.” “So far for July 81,000 vehicles have come through the gate,” Hooks said, “but that is down 16% from last July.” Hotel revenue for June was down 10.8% from last year and calendar year to day hotel revenues are down 32.2%. “However, hotel rooms are tech nically available. Some individual hotels have decided to keep their occupancy lower than 100%,” Hooks said. The JIA received notice of a tenta tive allocation of $343,668 from the federal government for Jekyll air port improvements. State funding for these improvements is $18,166 leaving Jekyll’s share at $1,500. The improvements include reha bilitation of runway lighting and threshold markings and design of runway safety improvements. COVID has had a huge impact on the Jekyll Island Convention Cen ter. The Center has lost 110 events and $3.5 million due to the virus. The marketing department is working on significant changes so groups can meet safely in the CO VID environment. Updated information on the Je kyll Island website shows how groups can meet safely on Jekyll. “The essential value of gather ing (together) remains,” said Kate Harris, JIA Director of Strategic Partnerships. Reduced occupancy in all Con vention Center common spaces has been instituted as well as increased sanitation on all public surfaces. Also leisure travel has become more important since the conven tion business is down and staff is fo cusing on how to make things easier for Jekyll’s vacationers. For example for the first time this year tickets for Summer Waves may be purchased on line. In the first four days of on line sales Summer Waves did $20,000 in sales. Hooks said the Summer Waves cabanas are sold out daily. Noel Jensen, JIA Chief Operat ing Officer, told the board that the new flood plain ratings were out and that Jekyll received a class rat ing of 5. Jensen said, “We have made gains toward a class 4 rating, and we’ve identified areas where we can improve.” As a part of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), the Community Rating System is a vol untary incentive program that rec ognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum program requirements. As a result, flood insurance pre mium rates are discounted to re flect the reduced flood risk resulting from community actions meeting the three goals of the Community Rating System: • Reduce flood damage to insur able property; • Strengthen and support the insurance aspects of the National Flood Insurance Program; • Encourage a comprehensive ap proach to floodplain management. “Each class represents a 5% discount on a homeowners flood “I’m asking for your vote in the Republican runoff election on August 11. Let’s do a better job of using our resources on the Islands and mainland ” -Walter Rafolski Our Next County Commissioner At-Large, Post 2 KLter Rafolski
