Posted on May 22, 2018
By Taylor Cooper, The Brunswick News
The Glynn County Commission voted Thursday to approve a temporary amendment to the zoning ordinance, which will allow the county’s community development department to approve the Sea Island Co.’s beach renourishment plan.
To get U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approval for a new rock groin and the renourishment plan, Sea Island would need approval from the Department of Natural Resources. The DNR requires Glynn County’s approval before the it can approve the project.
Sea Island has renourished its beach multiple times, and sought county approval each time, said Bill McHugh, general counsel for the Sea Island Co. Community Development Director Pamela Thompson, however, said the county’s zoning ordinance could have been interpreted as prohibiting renourishment.
County staff started working on an amendment to the beach and dune protection ordinance to fit Sea Island’s plan last month and presented a draft of the amendment to the Islands and Mainland planning commissions on Tuesday.
IPC members recommended some changes, and both approved the amendment 6-0. One member was missing from each commission.
Two of the recommendations the IPC made, which carried through into the approved amendment, stipulated the amendment would only stay in effect for six months and that its scope is limited to Sea Island’s immediate needs.
Glynn County resident and former Altamaha Riverkeeper James Holland said the county’s ordinances have to be in line with the federal Shoreline Protection Act, and the amendment was nowhere close.
David Kyler, with the Center for a Sustainable Coast, said the county was not correctly following public notice regulations. A public notice for Thursday’s public hearing on the amendment ran in The News on April 28, but the announcement was meaningless because the public would not have been able to view the revision before the meeting, as it didn’t exist as presented until the day of, he said.
Commissioner Mark Stambaugh asked County Attorney Aaron Mumford about it, who said the county was not violating any laws or ordinances by approving the amendment.
The commission approved the amendment 6-1, Commissioner Bob Coleman voting against it.
A more comprehensive amendment to the ordinance in the works, Thompson said. The county’s beach and dune protection ordinance is outdated by decades, she said.
DNR scientists are working on updating the agency’s own regulations, so county staff will work with DNR personnel to write an up-to-date and comprehensive long-term amendment to the ordinance, Thompson said.
Commissioners also voted to allow county staff to bid out a drainage improvement project for the old Coast Guard station parking area on St. Simons Island in light of the impending opening of the World War II Home Front Museum.
The museum is a project initiated by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society and seeks to tell the tale of the Golden Isles contributions to the war effort. The grand opening is planned for Saturday, Oct. 20.
Thompson said the county would work with the society to make sure the plan fits with a Coast Guard Beach Park Master Plan the commission approved last month.
Source: The Brunswick News
