Glynn County approves Jenkins Farm rezone with paving condition after heated public hearing

Glynn County commissioners on Thursday approved a plan-development rezone for 18 parcels on Jenkins Farm Road that will allow owners to seek building permits tied to a private access easement, voting 6-1 after a long public hearing.

Planning and zoning director Stephanie Leaf told the board the parcel was split by survey in 2020 and that the county has treated that split as an "illegal subdivision" because it bypassed subdivision review. Staff recommended rezoning the listed parcels from Forest Agricultural to Conservation Preservation and creating a plan-development (PD) district that would set site-specific standards and bar further subdivision without returning to the county. Leaf said staffs recommended condition would require paving the causeway portion of Jenkins Farm Road as shown on the Robert Civil Engineering plans dated Feb. 24, 2026, before any building permits were issued.

"We view this as an illegal subdivision," Leaf said in her presentation, and added that a PD would limit future subdivision unless applicants refiled for amendments. Fire Chief Vinny De Cristoforo told commissioners that while Glynn County Fire Rescue could access the properties with the planned pull-offs and a 16-foot roadway in many locations, there are currently no hydrants on the causeway and the department would stage water-shuttle operations where necessary.

Opponents, including Kat Montgomery of conservation group 100 Miles, urged the board to defer the application until the applicant supplied more information on culvert capacity, construction traffic, the private road agreement mentioned by the applicant and other environmental and public-safety details. "Approving the application without that information would establish a new and troubling precedent," Montgomery said.

Several long-term residents and property owners also spoke in opposition, citing narrow sections of the causeway, questions about who owns or paid for the existing gate, uncertainty about a road-maintenance agreement and concern that immediate building could shift maintenance burdens to neighbors. "If the road becomes damaged or impassable, what are the guarantees that the private parties will have the financial means to repair it promptly?" Montgomery asked.

The applicants attorney, John McQuigg, provided deeds, sales contracts and examples of prior county approvals that used private access easements. "Each property owner that abuts that easement has the right to use it, but also has an obligation to maintain it," McQuigg said, adding that state easement law assigns repair obligations to abutting owners and that similar approvals had been granted elsewhere in Glynn County and on St. Simons.

Engineer Jake Lemmings said additional surveys were done to identify the narrowest causeway point (about 17.5 feet) and explained the applicants conceptual approach: pave the causeway across the marsh to the upland, provide two cul-de-sacs for emergency-turnaround capacity, and leave the remainder of the road gravel. He said environmental consultants and the Department of Natural Resources had been engaged.

Supporters who purchased lots described long delays since closing and said the PD would limit future subdivision while allowing current owners to build. "We want Jenkins Farm to remain as close to the ideal that our family had of a peaceful coexistence with nature," said Loree Kicklighter, an original owner.

Commissioners discussed gate width and placement, fire-turnaround locations and whether moving the existing gate would open portions of the causeway to increased public traffic. The fire marshal said the front gate, if left in place, would need to be widened to at least 18 feet to meet county access standards.

A motion to defer the item failed after no second was offered. The commission then approved the PD rezone with the staff-proposed condition that the causeway be paved per the Robert Civil Engineering conceptual plans before any building permits are issued. The chair announced the tally as "six in favor, one opposed." No appeal or additional timeline was recorded at the meeting.

What happens next: The PD text as approved limits further subdivision without return to planning review, and the condition ties any building permit issuance to the paved causeway exhibit. Applicants and the county still need to finalize the private road agreement and any permit-level technical studies required by county engineering.