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theislanderonline.com
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Permar Publications
ssislander@bellsouth.net
November 11, 2024
Established in 1972
Vol 52 Issue 46
Mallery Park
This aerial shot shows the north side of Mallery Park on St. Simons, which is one of Glynn County’s
many ongoing SPLOST 2022 projects. The pond area will be filled and turned into an underground
water retention area with 70 new parking spaces created on top. The Holy Nativity Episcopal
Church is shown in the top right corner, with Mallery St. to the upper right and portions of Anne
Ave. and Bartow St. visible at the upper left. Photo by Glynn County IT / GIS Dept.
SPLOST QRE update
County denies
Mallery St.
residential
By Matthew J. Permar
After three trips to the Is
land Planning Commission
(IPC) and two to the Glynn
County Board of Commission
ers (BOC), the owners of 115
Mallery St. and 121 Mallery
St. on St. Simons were turned
down for Conditional Use Per
mits (CUP) that would have
allowed residential units on
the second floors of the two
buildings.
CUP applications for both
buildings were on the agen
da for the BOC’s October 17
meeting.
After hearing the applica
tion and holding a public hear
ing for 115, the BOC deferred
it to the November 7 meeting.
They also deferred the appli
cation for 121 without hear
ing it or holding the public
hearing.
Both were on last week’s
November 7 meeting agenda,
however only one public hear
ing was held for 121 Mallery.
According to the applica
tions, 115 Mallery, the for
mer Blue Water restaurant,
is owned by Charles Harris of
Siesta Key, Florida and 121
Mallery is owned by Gilad
Shrem of St. Simons.
The plan is to turn the exist
ing second floor of 115 into one
residential unit and build a
second floor on top of 121 with
three residential units. CUPs
are required for residential
use in the Village Mixed Use
(VMU) district along Mallery
St.
The primary issue for the
BOC was the parking.
According to the agent for
the owners, architect Charles
Day, the design includes
eight parking spaces behind
115 that would have to be ac
cessed from Floyd St., which
is a block to the west of Mal
lery St. After parking the ten
ants would then have to walk
Turn to Page 6
Mallery residential
The Glynn County adminis
tration and Board of Commis
sioners (BOC) hold quarterly
execution reviews (QRE) to
update the BOC and public on
the SPLOST projects and on
the County’s Strategic Plan.
Last week (Wednesday,
Oct. 6) was the SPLOST
update.
Currently, five projects
(21%) have been achieved, 14
(58%) are underway and on
track, two (8%) are underway
and off track, and three (13%)
are not started.
The five projects that have
been achieved (completed)
are: Demere Park improve
ments, Ballard Park improve
ments, East Beach sidewalk
repair and replacement,
North Harrington (St. Simons
By Matthew J. Permar
Island) drain pipe replace
ment and three pieces of new
heavy equipment for the Pub
lic Works Department.
There are various reasons
for projects not being on track
including third party involve
ment such as permits and
cooperation needed from the
Department of Natural Re
sources, Army Corps of En
gineers, the Department of
Transportation or in some
cases a railroad company. All
of these entities move on their
own time table.
After some discussion last
week about the $1 million St.
Simons fiber network con
nection project, which is on
track, Program Management
Director Jason Hagen opened
the floor for Assistant Fire
Chief Scott Cook to give an
update on equipment for that
department.
Note: Information Technol
ogy Department Chief Infor
mation Officer David West
told the BOC that using Live
Oak Fiber’s resources has
saved the county about $2
million.
Regarding the fire depart
ment, Hagen said staff was
recommending the same ar
chitectural firm, Jericho De
sign Group, LLC., for both
the new fire station, which
will be located at the inter
section of Hwy. 17 North and
Chapel Crossing Rd. and the
new, multi-use Public Safety
Turn to Page 3
SPLOST update
County-Wide News - Read County-Wide
Page 2 - County finance okays Frederica Rd. study
~ GIDA honors local industry
Page 3 - Vols needed for Rivers Alive cleanup
Page 4 - D.A. King - Looking for a Better Life
Page 9 - Port City Page
Page 10 - Ernest DeWitt obit / Pew News
Page 11 - Rotary Students of the Month
Page 12 - Back Talk
City to
undergo public
safety needs
assessment
By Pamela Permar-
Shierling
The Brunswick City Com
mission will consider a con
tract for a public safety study
at their next meeting.
However, last week dur
ing their regular meeting, the
commission heard a presenta
tion from Architects Design
Group (ADG) president Ian
Reeves on the upcoming study
which will be performed by
ADG for the city.
ADG is an architectural de
sign firm specializing solely
in the design of public safety,
law enforcement, fire-rescue,
EOC / 911, public safety train
ing, criminal justice, and civic
facilities.
Turn to Page 5
Safety assessment
School board
considering
weapons system
By Pamela Permar-
Shierling
The Glynn County Board of
Education will vote Tuesday,
Nov. 12, on an $858,358 weap
ons detection system which
will be put in all Glynn Coun
ty Schools.
The Opengate® system
from A-3 Communications is
manufactured by Ceia USA.
The information was pre
sented to the BOE during
their Nov. 7 work session. It
was also set up and demon
strated to the board members
during the meeting.
Mike Blackerby, Deputy
Superintendent of Opera
tions for the school system,
described the system as simi
lar to a metal detector but one
that is designed to pinpoint
weapons; even unassembled
Turn to Page 8
Weapon detection
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