Jekyll Island task force questions just how big island is | jacksonville.com

SAVANNAH | A decades-old state law passed to protect Jekyll Island’s unspoiled beaches, salt marshes and maritime forests seems simple enough, limiting development of hotels, golf courses and other amenities to just 35 percent of the island’s land area.

But a task force assigned to make recommendations about the coastal state park’s future has raised questions the 1971 law fails to answer clearly: Exactly how large is the island? And should any of its 1,750 acres of marsh, the swampy tracts of tall grasses between the water and the island’s western shore, be counted as land?

In a report last month, the advisory group of island staff, conservationists and coastal residents concluded Jekyll Island long ago exceeded its maximum footprint for development. The task force report says the island’s total land area is smaller than previously believed, because park officials for decades wrongly included hundreds of acres of marsh in their calculations.

via Jekyll Island task force questions just how big island is | jacksonville.com.