About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 2022)
Published by Permar Publications ssislander@bellsouth.net December 12, 2022 Established in 1972 Vol 50 Issue 50 Last minute changes result in deferrals By Matthew J. Permar Glynn County’s Mainland Planning Commission (MPC) deferred two items on their lengthy agenda last week (Tuesday, Dec. 6) due to last minute changes requested by the applicants. The first was an application from the Bible Baptist Church at 500 Harry Driggers Blvd. who, according to the staff re port, wanted to the amend the Planned Development (PD) Text to allow a church as a permitted use. The property falls under the Golden Isles Gateway / PAWS PD text that was put in place back in the late 1990s for Mutual of Omaha’s Jim Fowler’s Wildlife Park. The plan was for a “free- roaming animal park” for what was then 2,000 acres at the Interstate 95 interchange at Hwy. 99. While the animal park nev er came to fruition the PAWS PD text remained in place and is still in place today. In the early 2000s, a new owner dropped the animal park altogether and proposed a theme park for the property called ‘Steamboat City,’ re flecting the park’s proximity to the historic Brunswick - Al- tamaha Canal. This also did not come to fruition. So now, whenever a section of the PAWS tract is sold off the new owners must request a zoning change, unless they want to build a wild animal park. The Bible Baptist site is lo cated in ‘Tract R-3,’ one of the residential districts within the PAWS PD. As it turns out a church is not a permitted use in this particular tract, so their re quest last week was to bring them into compliance with the PAWS PD text. Turn to Page 5 MPC - deferrals Surfin’ the News Getting ready for Christmas Above: Glynn County Public Works installed new conduit in November for Christmas lights along Mallery St. in the St. Simons Village. Right: The end result. Photos provided by Glynn County It took a Village: the CVB, Jepter, Chris, & Glynn County By Pamela Permar-Shierling The beautiful Christmas lights now blazing in the Vil lage on St. Simons Island are the result of the determina tion of Jepter Butler, owner of Iguanas Seafood Restaurant, the Pier Village Merchants, Chris McDougald, the Golden Isles Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), and Glynn County. Jepter started it all about four years ago. “The first year I just did it in the island in front of Iguanas,” he said. “The next year I did the tree and the island. I wanted to make it better so I added to the lights.” While Jepter paid for the lights, the lift equipment to light the trees, and the labor, others also helped in those early years. “I can’t say enough about Strothers Hardware who loaned equipment to me. Then locals always donated something - time or money.” “Then last year things didn’t go very well lighting wise at the Pier,” CVB’s Presi dent and CEO Scott McQuade said. All parties came together this year to provide a tradition that McQuade hopes to grow bigger and better and spread to different parts of St. Simons Island. “This year, Commissioner Cap Fendig contacted me and the CVB had the resources to fund the vast majority of the lighting,” McQuade said. “Jepter provided the buck et trucks and labor. He also Turn to Page 8 Village Christmas County-Wide News - Read County-Wide Glynn County police Chief Battiste resigns By Pamela Permar- Shierling Last Tuesday (Dec. 6) dur ing Glynn County’s monthly media roundtable, Glynn’s Police Chief Jacques Bat tiste discussed his decision to resign. News of his resignation hit the media the day before, Monday, Dec. 5. Chief Battiste said, “I am not leaving due to any issue. I keep taking it (criticism) on the chin. I have carried the ball as far as I can for this po lice department and I feel it best to step aside.” Chief said he had inter viewed three years ago with the non-profit organization FBI-LEEDA prior to coming to Glynn. FBI-LEEDA (FBI-Law Turn to Page 6 Battiste City approves Atlanta Ave. rezoning By Pamela Permar- Shierling Last week (Dec. 7) dur ing their regular meeting the Brunswick City Commission approved a rezoning request to incorporate the property at 2328 Atlanta Avenue into the 2307 Gloucester St. Planned Development Traditional Neighborhood (PD-TN) text. 2307 Gloucester St. is at the foot of Gloucester near Hwy. 17 and is the site of a former motel that was demolished by the Brunswick Glynn Joint Water and Sewer Commis sion several years ago when they were considering locating their headquarters on the site. 2307 Gloucester, LLC was approved for a rezoning to PD-TN on June 6, 2021. The PD-TN text allows the Turn to Page 11 Atlanta Ave. 0 94922 29970 3 Page 2 - County media roundtable Page 3 - Farm Bureau celebrates 85 years on Jekyll Page 4 - D.A. King Page 9 - Sensory Santa Page 10 - Pew News Page 12 - Back Talk
