County takes no action in commercial use of residential property

County commissioners decided to take no action into complaints of commercial activity on a residential lot on St. George Island after neighboring homeowners said they have no problem with the activity. The issue was brought to county attention in May by island resident David Avant who said that a lot near his home on Patton Street is being used as a commercial marina by Jeannie’s Journeys. Mister Avant said that the business brings traffic and noise to the residential street and added that the property owners have filled in the ditches along the property with shell, which is causing a flooding issue for nearby homeowners. On Tuesday night commissioners heard from Jeannie’s Journey’s owner Justin Macmillan who admitted that boats are launched from the site but denied that the business created a lot of noise or blocked the street with parked cars. Macmillan said that Mister Avant had recently opened an eco-tourism business of his own and was making complaints as a way to attack a competitor. Mister Avant denied trying to close the business, he said he just wants them to do conduct their business from a commercial area not a residential site. Neighboring homeowners agreed with Macmillan’s assessment – most said they were not disturbed by any activity on the lot, others argued that the county should not take any action that would hurt a local long-time business. In the end the county took no action on the issue though they did ask that Jeannie’s Journeys remove a fence from in front of their business on 3rd street which the county says was built on public property.