Jekyll Island wondering what happens if state gives it up

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Posted 6:53PM on Sunday, July 14, 2002

JEKYLL ISLAND - Residents on this barrier island, bought by the state of Georgia as a vacation spot for the middle class, are debating whether Jekyll Island should turn more upscale in the future. State lawmakers are soon to begin reviewing a 1947 charter of the island that expires from government control in less than 50 years. Several officials said Jekyll could use some improvements as a getaway island, including more hotel space and golf courses to attract conventions. ``The interest is for families of Georgia, but that doesn't match up with what the competition is doing on Hilton Head and Amelia Island,'' said state Sen. Rene D. Kemp, D-Hinesville. Residents want the island to succeed but they also worry about holding on to the land beneath their feet. A. Tice Eyler, president of the Jekyll Island Citizens Association and chairman of the Jekyll Island Preservation Alliance, said residents are already worried about what will happen when the charter expires. On Jekyll Island, the term ``homeowner'' means that and nothing more. They own their houses and lease from the state the land the foundations are sitting on. Problems will surface long before the charter expires in 2049, Eyler said. ``We're going to reach a point pretty soon when banks aren't going to loan money,'' he said. Mortgage companies not only want to know that homeowners will be in their homes for the term of the loan - usually 20 to 30 years - they also want some additional time to resell the homes in the event of foreclosures, Eyler said. Leaseholders of commercial property, such as hotel and restaurant owners, are already nervous about the date, and homeowners are getting that way, said Bill Donohue, executive director of the Jekyll Island State Park Authority. Corrective legislative action was ready this year but was held until the next legislative session in January 2003. That legislation does a simple thing: It removes the dates from the law that created the authority, Donohue said. If that bill is passed, the second step would be for the state to extend its lease of the island to the authority for another 50 years, Donohue said. Until then, the authority cannot sublease the lots and commercial sites on the island to homeowners and business owners, Donohue said. ``I can't give ... 50 years I don't have,'' Donohue said. Some have broached an alternative letting the homeowners buy the land. Although it would make his property far more valuable, Eyler said that would be bad for the island environment and unfair to homeowners. When people buy houses on Jekyll, the intrinsic value of the lease is part of the price. To compel homeowners to buy the land now would be almost asking them to pay twice for the same thing, Eyler said. Residents also fear more development. ``All of us who live here fell in love with this place because of its pristine beauty,'' Eyler said. And that brings up another part of the charter, a provision that 65 percent of Jekyll Island be left undeveloped. With private ownership, Eyler fears that development controls would go out the window and Jekyll Island would join its neighbor St. Simons Island, where quaint beach cottages have been razed to make room for three-story houses and condominiums on tiny lots. Kemp noted that the island's mission to serve the middle class may be in conflict with other barrier islands, which are increasingly becoming the playgrounds of the very rich. ``I don't think Jekyll Island can compete with Sea Island, but I don't think it needs to,'' he said.