Editor’s note: March 11, 2025, 10 p.m. This article was updated to correct the first name of committee member Valerie Hepburn.
The Shore Protection Committee on Friday unanimously approved controversial plans to add amenities to St. Simons’ Coast Guard Beach.
Glynn County needed permits from the appointed five-member panel in order to move forward with plans that involve alterations to the protected areas of the beachfront park, including plans to install a beach volleyball court, remove trees and fill wetlands. The project already qualified for a $3 million matching grant from the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program to pay for the renovations.
Environmental advocates had pushed back against a project, with One Hundred Miles mounting a campaign to encourage its members to supply public comment opposed to the permits. The organization’s Vice President of Coastal Conservation, Alice Miller Keyes, was one of three people who made public comment against the permit on Friday.
“This project would fill wetlands, remove vegetation and level a sand dune,” she told the committee. “Our natural sand dune system and coastal wetlands offer protection from flooding, and storm surge that comprise an essential component of the sand sharing system.”
Committee member Valerie Hepburn toured the area with a Department of Natural Resources staffer prior to Friday’s meeting. The volleyball court will be situated in an area that’s already altered, she said.
“Most that property is already flat,” she said after Friday’s meeting. “It had people’s kayaks and catamarans. That’s that old surf sailor area there. I mean, it’s a completely un-native, no habitat. It’s in a fence now. The vast majority of where that volleyball court’s going to be is already an area that has been long since disturbed.”
The Coastal Georgia Audubon Society raised concerns that the planned removal of non-native trees — many of them slash pines — will reduce habitat for migratory song birds. That struck a chord with Hepburn, an aspiring birder. At her suggestion the panel added a special condition to the permit requiring replanting with native species suitable for bird habitat.
Robert J. Cooper, Past President of the Coastal Georgia Audubon Society wrote to The Current after the meeting expressing disappointment with the permitting.
“The overriding goal to maximize parking expansion forced this tradeoff at the expense of conservation,” he wrote. “That’s unfortunate and certainly not what we’d expect to see from a Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program funded project. Even so, we do appreciate that, in response to our input, the Committee added a permit condition that will require consideration of bird habitat value in the selection of native vegetation to be replanted in the Shore Protection Area.”
The Shore Protection Committee was created in 1979 with passage of the Shore Protection Act, which protects the sand sharing system — the beaches, dunes and sand bars and shoals. Its members also serve on the Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee, created in 1970 with passage of state law that protects the salt marsh. Both the shore and salt marsh are deemed vital areas of the state. Current members along with Hepburn are Chad Barrow, resident of Savannah and owner and CEO of Coastal Logistics Group, Inc.; Brad Brookshire, a banker and Bryan County resident; and Davis Poole, a businessman and McIntosh County commissioner. DNR Commissioner Walter Rabon chairs the committees but votes only to break a tie.
Coast Guard Beach is a popular destination, attracting 1,000 to 1,500 visitors a day in the summer months, Glynn County wrote in its GOSA application. It’s also the largest free beach access in the state, with no toll or parking fee collected at the site.
The renovation, now estimated to cost $7M is expected to get underway later this year.
“There’s not an exact date,” said spokesman Lawton Dodd. “They still have to get bids but they expect to get started in May.”
The Tide brings regular notes and observations on news and events by The Current staff.
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