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Published by Permar Publications

February 13, 2017 Established in 1972 Vol 45 Issue 7

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County-Wide News - Read County-Wide

ADA on JekyllPublic speaks out about

Jekyll’s disabled accessibilityBy Pamela Permar

ShierlingMembers of the public had

an opportunity last week to discuss their concerns about handicapped accessibility on Jekyll Island with Mike Gali-fianakis, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Coor-dinator for the Georgia State Financing & Investment Com-mission, Steve Jones, Senior Architect on the ADA Coor-dinator’s team, and Jones Hooks, Executive Director of the Jekyll Island Authority (JIA).

The public forum was held Thursday evening at the Jekyll Island Convention Center.

In September of last year the JIA began a study of the Island’s handicapped accessi-bility in response to public re-quests for better beach access.

Jekyll Island has main-tained it is complying with the ADA law but agreed to work along with the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission and the State ADA Coordinator’s Office to develop a Comprehensive Dis-ability Accessibility Assess-ment and Improvement Plan for the JIA.

The goal of the plan is “to promote and enhance access and inclusion for people with disabilities in recreation, lei-sure activities, and tourism offered by JIA.”

Part of the study included the public’s input.

Galifianakis said he under-stood that improved beach ac-cess for people in wheelchairs was the number one issue, but he first wanted to hear about any other access problems en-countered on Jekyll Island.

The public offered up these problems for discussion:

• Access to restrooms and doors too narrow for

wheelchairs;• Handicapped parking

spaces in the new retail vil-lage area are not close to the shops;

• Inconsistency in park-ing areas: handicapped sig-nage is not lined up with the parking space; incidents of handicapped parking being blocked included portable toi-lets blocking two handicapped spaces during an event; ven-dor trucks blocking handi-capped spaces; sometimes garbage cans are placed in the

Turn to Page 4Jekyll ADA

City - county getting closer on land bank

agreementBy Matthew J. PermarAfter hearing a presenta-

tion about land banks at a recent joint work session, the Glynn County and Brunswick City Commissions moved a little closer toward an agree-ment allowing the city to cre-ate a land bank.

The presentation was made by Chris Norman, the Ex-ecutive Director of the Fulton County / City of Atlanta Land Bank Authority, Inc., which is a member of the Georgia Association of Land Bank Authorities.

A land bank is a public or nonprofit entity created by lo-cal governments to acquire, manage, maintain and fa-cilitate the redevelopment of

Turn to Page 8Land bank

Turn to Page 9Jekyll oak

‘Jekyll Oak’ lives on through artists’ creations

The live oak tree, the Jekyll Oak, that had to be removed last June from downtown Brunswick’s Jekyll Square still lives through the work of some talented artists who took pieces of the oak and cre-ated their own masterpiece for the Jekyll Oak Wood Contest and Auction.

The premier showing of these artists’ work will be held Saturday, February 18 at 1412 Newcastle St. from noon until 8 p.m. 1412 will be set up as an art gallery for the public to view the artwork.

Contest winners will be announced Wednesday, Feb-ruary 22, in conjunction with Brunswick’s 161st birthday during a celebration and awards ceremony at 2 p.m. at Jekyll Square East, the

handicapped spaces;• No ADA drinking foun-

tain in the Morgan Center• Thresholds in historic vil-

lage shops are high and won’t accommodate a wheelchair. Suggestions included a wheel-chair ramp over the threshold.

Galifianakis suggested that education of business owners could go a long way to help solve problems such as a high threshold.

The discussion turned to safety in general and what could be done quickly to

Glynn resident Steve Oldaker addresses the Georgia ADA coordinator during a town hall meeting last week hosted by the Jekyll Island Authority. Widget Richards, a strong advocate for disabled people, holds the microphone. Islander Staff Photo - Permar

Page 2 - Fire which killed two children still under investigation

Page 3 - Waste management plant with new technology opens in Nahunta

Page 9 - SGHS to celebrate Black History month

Page 11 - Peaches to Beaches coming backPage 12 - Back Talk

enhance the overall accessibil-ity for everyone on Jekyll and to enhance the safety of the Island.

It was pointed out that many people who live or visit Jekyll could be called mobil-ity challenged. They are not in a wheelchair but they ride scooters, trikes or can’t walk very far without stopping to rest.

One resident commented that keeping the bike paths

Jekyll ADAContinued from Page 1edged would solve a major problem particularly when two scooters or trikes need to pass one another.

According to staff members Je-kyll Island has 23 miles of bike paths which are maintained regularly and are wide enough for two scooters or trikes to pass each another.

It was also suggested that the JIA talk to the people who ride the bike paths daily and get their suggestions for safety enhancements.

One resident commented that the lack of repaving of the road and bike path, torn up to repair a water main break near the Villas on the north end, is a hazard.

Another person said it is dangerous to ride a bike across the rough, pot-holed temporary patch. Some of the patch material is washing off the road into the drainage swale.

Widget Richards, who is from Mari-etta and has worked for two years to improve handicapped access on Je-kyll, said those with hearing and mo-bility disabilities are discouraged from participating in the turtle walks.

“No assistance is offered for those with disabilities who might want to take the Turtle Walk,” Richards said.

It was suggested that more assis-tance could be offered to those with disabilities regarding many different Jekyll events.

One example given: at the Shrimp and Grits festival, the food is very far from the bus drop off location. “It re-quires a lot of walking,” one resident said, “to get from the bus location to the food.”

Galifianakis suggested that an ADA check list for temporary events could be very helpful.

Steve Oldaker, President of the Statewide Independent Living Coun-cil of Georgia and a passionate pro-moter of wheelchair beach access on Jekyll Island spoke to the group.

Oldaker, who lives in Glynn and has been disabled for 29 years, said, “I would like to be able to take advan-tage of everything on Jekyll Island.”

He pointed out that beach access impacts so many who visit Jekyll.

“Wheelchair access to St. Andrews beach works but that’s not the beach beach,” Oldaker said. “The ocean fac-ing beach is what people want. They want to hear and see the waves and experience the noise.”

St. Andrews beach is on the south-west side of the Island and faces the Jekyll Sound.

“Camp Jekyll is great,” he contin-ued, “but I am concerned about beach access there.”

“A child with disabilities who comes to Camp Jekyll cannot participate in all the outdoor activities,” he said. “You need to be inclusive or modify the programs so disabled children can experience the same things. We don’t want any children left out.”

“Great Dunes and the Westin beach accesses are kind of accessible. They comply minimally,” he said. “But when you get to the end of the beach mat, you are still 20 feet away from the hard packed sand and soft sand is hard for a person in a wheelchair to overcome.”

original location of the tree. Snacks and refreshments will be provided. Prizes include $700, $500, and $300, along with a people’s choice award.

The artwork will be auctioned Saturday, February 25 from noon to 6 p.m. at 1412 Newcastle St. and ca-tered by Arté Pizza, Daddy Cate’s, Fox’s Pizza, and Tipsy McSways.

1412 Newcastle will be open Mon-day through Friday from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. for display and voting for the People’s Choice Award.

This event has been made possible by SoGlo Art Gallery, Southern Yan-kee Workshop, and Signature Squares and sponsored by Georgia Power and Southeast Georgia Health System. p

under utilized vacant tax delinquent properties. They are created through local intergovernmental agreements (IGA).

With a number of these under uti-lized vacant tax delinquent properties within the city limits, the city com-mission has been ready to form a land bank for some time and only needs the county to sign off on the IGA to move forward.

The two commission met several months ago in a joint session during which the city made the pitch. The county, which has far fewer properties that might qualify for a land bank, was unsure of the idea and wanted more information.

Although, the city and county at-torneys were given the go ahead start drafting an IGA for a land bank in case the decision was made to move forward.

During a special joint work session early this month, County Commission chairman Bill Brunson (Dist. 4) said the county needed information about the goals of a land bank, particularly what are the county’s goals.

Brunson also wanted information of the financial commitment that would be required on the county’s part.

Brunswick Mayor Cornell Har-vey pushed for a time frame from the county. “How long do you need, Harvey asked, “If we (the city) do this alone we will have to fund it ourselves.”

Brunson suggested moving it to the county’s work session in March.

City Commissioner Johnny Cason said there was a hotel the city wanted to get started with and they needed the foundation of the land bank to get started.

County Commissioner Alan Booker (Dist. 5) said the land bank issue was central to his district, which contains most of the city.

“Arco needs this type of tool to help bring it back,” said Booker, “that’s where the county could help.”

While closely connected to the city along Norwich St., the Arco area is outside the city limits line and is in the county.

Booker continued saying, “Do we have the will to do this? If it’s yes, then we need to team up and put together a set of goals. How do we start this, do we phase it in, do we use our at-torneys, our community development departments? If we do it properly it could bring in other resources.”

City Manager Jim Drumm agreed saying they commissions need to iden-tify what they are going to do.

Harvey said, “We can show you what we need in the city. But we don’t know what you need in the county, but I want this to be inclusive.”

City commissioner Felicia Harris pointed out that Norman had said it did not cost anything to form the land bank. She suggested forming it and then looking at the costs of property and staffing needs.

A city staff member suggested starting small, with one home or site.

City Commission Julie Martin pointed out that the city and county attorneys have drafted a large portion of the IGA.

JWSCContinued from Page 1

Jekyll oakContinued from Page 1

Land bankContinued from Page 1

“Beach wheelchairs don’t work for those who want to be indepen-dent since you need someone to push them,” he said. “There are no brakes on the beach wheelchairs so it’s hard or impossible for some just to transfer into the beach wheelchair.”

“Yes, Jekyll does deliver beach wheelchairs but you don’t see that many on the beach because we can’t get there,” he said.

“It’s a quality of life issue; an en-hancement of life issue,” he said.

Oldaker said, “Surely there is a way for one access point possibly to be on a three month trial basis with a longer beach mat (a Mobi-Mat® is an ADA beach access mat) so you could stay on top of maintaining the mat and assess maintenance burdens.”

“We don’t want to be unreason-able,” he continued, “and we believe the JIA is taking this seriously. We want Jekyll Island to be a (beach ac-cess) model for the whole country and we want to help you help us.”

“People with disabilities need to be involved every step of the way,” Olda-ker said.

One person said, “Sometimes the public can be mean-spirited regarding persons with disabilities.”

Another person commented, “Em-pathy from the community would help. People need to understand that handicapped persons want to be independent.”

Another person suggested mak-ing Driftwood Beach, one of Jekyll’s most visited icons, more accessible to those in wheelchairs. “There isn’t even handicapped parking at Driftwood Beach.”

Richards noted that the Holiday Inn Resort has installed a wooden ramp on their property that goes all the way to the hard packed sand on the beach.

“Consider the same option of a ramp at the north parking lot (where the retail stores were temporarily lo-cated) to the beach,” she said.

Several people came from Atlanta to the meeting. One was a young man in a wheelchair named Charlie Miller.

“I love Jekyll Island,” Miller said. “I came to Jekyll last year with the People First Conference and everyone at that conference wanted to go to the beach.”

“Some people who were in wheel-chairs were unable to transfer to the beach wheelchairs,” he said.

“I understand that Jekyll’s handi-capped accessibility might meet ADA regulations but they don’t meet the spirit of the law which means inclu-sion,” Miller said.

“Jekyll Island has the potential to be a powerhouse in the disabled com-munity,” he continued. “We would love to be able to tell our friends let’s go to Jekyll because its accessible.”

Richards commented that People First is coming to Jekyll again in Au-gust. “It would be wonderful if they could get onto the beach,” she said.

She also commented that for every disabled person there is a family be-hind them and if Jekyll cannot accom-modate the disabled person, the fam-ily is not likely to support Jekyll.

Jones Hooks thanked everyone for their input.

“Your comments have been very

In response to Brunson’s comment, County Commissioner Richard Strick-land (Dist. 3) said he didn’t think the city wants to wait until March.

Brunson commented that the agen-da for the county’s regular February work session was full.

Harvey said he did not want to “kick the can down the road.”

Cason agreed saying the city was ready to go. “How can we not win with this?, asked Cason.

County Commissioner Mark Stam-baugh (At Large #1) said they first needed to know what were the goals.

“I asked for a map of the dilapidat-ed properties in the city a while ago,” said Stambaugh, “and I’ve never got-ten it.”

Harvey said, “If you (the county) don’t want to be part of this, then let us form one and you can join later if you want. But we need your permis-sion (the IGA) to move forward.”

Booker said, “I have a problem leav-ing out part of my district.”

Harvey said, “Let’s let the attor-neys finish the IGA and bring it you and us.”

Strickland said the IGA could be signed at the first regular meeting in March.

County Commissioner Peter Mur-phy (Dist. 2), who had asked earlier about the financial angle, agreed with Strickland saying, “Let’s go ahead and take the next step. There’s no cost or obligation to buy any property. Let’s agree to take the first step together and see what’s next, it may or may not be acceptable.”

The final consensus was to have the attorney’s finish the IGA and have ready for the second meeting this month.

According to Assistant City At-torney Brian Corry, he and County Attorney Aaron Mumford have al-ready done about 99% of the work on the IGA and it only needs some final tweaking. p

helpful,” he said. “You know we move slowly but we can move fast as well.”

“Our awareness has been raised and we are very serious about this ef-fort to make all of Jekyll accessible.”

An action plan for the whole island is expected to be available in June or July.

Hooks said the JIA would see what could be done immediately to rem-edy beach access and handicapped parking.

The full report will be available in November.

Final comments included educating the public and using social media so people could give feedback on the ADA study.

The outline for the Comprehensive Disability Study is on the JIA website under Important Documents. p