IPJI has sent each of the 3 gubernatorial the Jekyll questionnaire that appears below. When/if the candidates respond to the questionnaire, their answers will be posted in the “Latest News” section on the home page of our website.
Nathan Deal has not responded to IPJI’s questionnaire and does not have any known ties to the Jekyll redevelopment issue.
Karen Handel has not responded to IPJI's questionnaire. She does, however, have some ties to the Jekyll redevelopment issue. She was part of the Governor Sonny Perdue team―serving at one point as his Deputy Chief of Staff―and is widely known as Governor Perdue's protégé . Governor Perdue appointed the members of the current Jekyll Island Authority board who have pushed several Jekyll development projects that have been unpopular with the public, the most noteworthy of which is the Linger Longer town center project. (Click here to read Georgia Times-Union article, "Perdue fingerprints are on Jekyll.") The Linger Longer company is presided over by Mercer and Jamie Reynolds. Initially, the Reynolds family backed GOP gubernatorial candidate Eric Johnson, who was a JIA board member while the Reynolds’ Jekyll project was active. Jamie Reynolds served as co-chair of Johnson’ campaign finance committee, but following Johnson’s defeat in the July 20th GOP primary election, Reynolds joined the campaign finance team of Karen Handel.
Roy Barnes has expressed interest in speaking with IPJI about the Jekyll development issue but has not yet responded to IPJI’s questionnaire.
Questionnaire
1) Currently, a number of Authority boards in Georgia are required by law to have members with qualifications related to the duties they must perform. This is not the case with the Jekyll Island Authority board, however. If you were to be elected as Georgia’s next governor, would you be willing to support legislation that would require the majority of JIA board appointees to have credentials in subject areas relevant to the tasks they might be called upon to perform, including, but not limited to, such areas as public land planning and development, outdoor recreation, hospitality and tourism, public sector economics, and coastal ecology?
2) One of the main goals of IPJI is to keep Jekyll Island’s remaining open beachfront unobstructed and directly accessible to the general public. Would you, as governor, be willing to encourage the Jekyll Island Authority board to refrain from commercializing beachfront land that is currently in its natural state or is home to a public amenity?
As you answer this question, please bear in mind two facts:
- An open beach policy need not conflict with the ongoing reconstruction of Jekyll’s aging hotels, convention center and retail shops, which will take place on land that has already been developed
- Jekyll Island is Georgia’s only oceanfront state park and, as such, public demand for access to the island’s main beach will increase dramatically over the next two decades in response to a projected population increase of 46 percent statewide and 55 percent in Georgia’s ten coastal counties [data source: Office of Planning and Budget, March, 2010].
3) The 1971 act mandating that not more than 35 percent of Jekyll Island can be developed is one of the most important pieces of legislation in the state park’s history. The so-called 65/35 rule cannot be upheld, however, without a clear definition of what constitutes “developed” and “undeveloped” land. At present, the definitions of these terms subscribed to by the JIA are, in some cases, at odds with best practices in land use classification.
As governor, would you be willing to help uphold the 65/35 law by asking your JIA board appointees to align the Authority’s definitions of developed and undeveloped land with national standards for land use classification, meaning those followed by such organizations as the American Planning Association, the Georgia Planning Association, and the National Resources Inventory?
4) Georgia law mandates that the Jekyll Island Authority make “the island park’s facilities available to people of average income.” Many people believe that Jekyll’s long-standing tradition of affordability is one of the state park’s most important assets; others feel that Jekyll’s lodgings and amenities need to be more upscale if the island is to compete with other coastal vacation destinations. If you were in charge of revamping Jekyll Island’s lodgings and amenities, what would be your priorities?
Links to Candidates' Websites
Democrat: Roy Barnes
The Role of Jekyll Island State Park
in the 2010 Governor's Race
