Recently, the Gazette has been extremely helpful in featuring letters debating the proposed development of one of Georgia’s amazing natural assets, Jekyll Island. Significantly, the debate’s only pro-development letters have come from a spokesman for the would-be developer, Linger Longer Communities (LLC). In considering these letters‚ arguments, it’s important to keep in mind the large profits LLC would obtain if the project is approved, the proposed plan pricing out at $500 million.

Recently, it’s been a cynical trend for businesses to adapt green/ecological language, however misleadingly, to push whatever they’re selling. I hope this isn’t the case when I read LLC’s often-repeated talking points touting their plan’s environmental sensitivity, such as replacing some asphalt parking lots with rain-permeable parking surfaces. In terms of true sensitivity to nature, such small (token?) measures miss the main point of what makes Jekyll so extraordinary.

Jekyll is one of the Atlantic coast’s last barrier islands offering convenient access to a true coastal nature experience. Jekyll’s beaches are one of the ancient, last remaining nesting grounds for loggerhead sea turtles, a species as old as the dinosaurs yet which in recent years has come to verge on extinction due to coastal development crowding them from beaches. Jekyll’s forests, dunes and beaches are ancient stopovers for abundant species of birds during their long, exhausting migrations, many of these species now rapidly decreasing in number, in part due to coastal habitats being replaced by excessive building of hotels and condos.

Apart from LLC’s proposed plan, ample redevelopment is already going on at Jekyll. The Jekyll Island newspaper notes construction already is proceeding with new hotels on at least three Jekyll properties, and new condos have been approved for at least two. I can’t help but ask myself whose needs are most being met by a plan for still more development on Jekyll.

Developers can’t help but see land in terms of building it up: that’s what they do. But many Georgians believe a light impact, not a heavy impact, is what is appropriate in terms of building on this wonderful, surviving fragment of nature. If what we crave is a barrier island that feels like one of Atlanta’s suburbs, we can vacation at Jekyll’s overbuilt neighbor, St. Simons Island. But St. Simons can’t offer the deep replenishment of our souls we can find at Jekyll. To learn how to make yourself heard in protecting Jekyll Island, log onto http://www.savejekyllisland.org/

Dan Corrie

Tifton