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.
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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
