Gubernatorial Candidate John Oxendine  Meets

with IPJI’s Co-Directors

On October 30th, David and Mindy Egan, the co-directors of the Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island, met with Republican gubernatorial candidate John Oxendine to gain some insight into where he stands on the question of Jekyll’s renovation.

In a meeting that took place on Jekyll Island’s beach deck, Commissioner Oxendine outlined his vision of Jekyll’s redevelopment, emphasizing the need to rebuild the island’s oceanfront hotels and modernize its convention facilities—including a convention hotel—in order to make the state park a prime destination for Georgia families as well as conventioneers. He also spoke of the importance of maintaining a healthy balance between redevelopment and the island’s traditional character so as to ensure that Jekyll continues to stand apart from the crowded coastal resorts that are commonplace along southeast coast.

While recognizing the necessity of modernizing Jekyll’s accommodations, he questioned whether building condominiums and time-shares on Jekyll is something that the island’s visitors want or is appropriate for the state park.

Commissioner Oxendine expressed disappointment over the Jekyll Island Authority board’s use of multi-million dollar financial incentives and lease abatements for developers to build on prime oceanfront property, a practice which he feels makes little, if any, economic sense.

Jekyll’s redevelopment, in Commissioner Oxendine’s view, could take place more efficiently and with less cost for the state and Georgia taxpayers if the JIA would bid out each redevelopment project separately rather than partnering with Linger Longer Communities, a company over which the politically-connected Reynolds family presides.

Pointing out that it is the Governor’s responsibility to see that Authority appointees do their jobs well and uphold public trust, Commissioner Oxendine said that if he were to be elected Governor, he would ask for a thorough investigation of the Jekyll redevelopment project. He placed this statement within the broader context of his campaign pledge to “transform state government in Georgia away from the politics as usual model into a 21st Century model based on conservative free enterprise management principles.”