Site of closed park in limbo

Gilligan’s Island inadvertently built on wrong property.

KINGSLAND — A Camden County lawyer is asking when the Camden County Public Service Authority will rebuild a park that was mistakenly constructed on the wrong property in 2003.

Lawyer Jim Stein said his client, Kings Bay Properties, wasn’t aware until 2007 that Gilligan’s Island Recreational Park was built on a 26-acre site it owns.

Stein said his client offered to sell the property to the county or trade for another tract elsewhere in the county. Instead, it was told the county didn’t have the money to purchase the property. The park was closed in 2009 and the entrance barricaded.

The Camden County Public Service Authority, which managed the park, dismantled the structures and removed the picnic tables, but Stein said there were alterations to his client’s property that can never be undone without extensive work.

The park, located at a small freshwater lake off Ga. 40, about a half mile south of Kings Bay Road, featured a pavilion, boat ramp and wooden bulkheads separating a roughly paved parking area from the sandy beach.

Admittedly, some of the work, such as the boat ramp and wooden bulkheads, are improvements, but Stein said his client is still struggling to sell the property because of the poorly paved parking lot that would be costly to remove.

“They refused to do anything,” Stein said of the county. “We filed a complaint and the court denied it. They have government immunity.”

While Stein lost the legal battle, he is now ques- tioning why the county hasn’t built the park on the correct location on the adjacent piece of waterfront property.

“We have people contact the law office all the time to ask about the Gilligan’s Island project,” he said.

The 57-acre tract is now overgrown with weeds and small trees. A work shed is strewn with cans, bottles, cigarette butts and other debris from when a registered sex offender lived there several years ago until he was forced to move by authorities.

“It’s a nightmare for the owners and the taxpayers,” Stein said. “They spent $300,000 and did nothing. The taxpayers took it on the chin.”

Stein said his client granted an easement for the county to build a road to the correct site, but nothing has been done.

Kingsland Mayor Ken Smith, a Public Service Authority member, said the authority still doesn’t have the money to purchase the site, which is where he believes is the best location for the park since the work has already been completed.

“I would like to think we could work out an agreement,” he said. “The only holdup is the funding part.”

Smith said the authority’s board has not discussed the Gilligan’s Island issue in about a year, but he plans to revive discussion about the park at a coming meeting.

Smith said he was unaware Kings Bay Properties would be willing to consider a land swap to resolve the issue. He said he doesn’t know if the county has a tract that could be offered.

“I would be interested to discuss why it wasn’t discussed by my board,” Smith said. “Anytime would be a good time to resurrect a discussion on this issue. I’m certain we’re willing to see what we can do.”