Georgia county undoes land swap with resort

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A coastal Georgia county and a resort are undoing the rest of a 38-yearold land swap after a judge ruled in 2016 that the county had illegally given away a park.

The Glynn County Commission voted earlier this month to return some land to the Sea Island Co. that was part of an illegal 1982 land swap.

Sea Island Co. had filed a legal action in October, The Brunswick News reported, seeking to reclaim its half of the nearly 40-year-old deal.

“The transaction was based upon a mutual mistake of fact and law,” court filings state.

The mutual mistake became apparent in 2016 when the Glynn Environmental Coalition and Sea Island resident Jane Fraser noted Twitty Park was not the county’s to trade away.

Businessman T.L. Cain willed the property to Glynn County in 1924 to provide a public park and permanent access to Sea Island from St. Simons Island. If the county did not adhere to the terms of the will, ownership was to revert to Cain’s heirs.

A judge ruled the county’s 1982 trade of Twitty Park was void, handing title back to the county under the terms of the original Cain deed.

“The county got the park back, and when the county got the park back Sea Island wanted their land back that they swapped to get the park to begin with,” Commission Chairman Mike Browning said on Friday.

Glynn County did not challenge the Sea Island Co. on the matter in court.

“To be common- sense and honest about it, the decent thing to do would be to give the property back to Sea Island,” Browning said.

Glynn County Superior Court Judge Roger Lane earlier this month ordered Glynn County to transfer ownership of a wooded piece of land near a wastewater treatment plant back to Sea Island.

Commissioners voted to do so unanimously.

Sea Island Co. is releasing any remaining ownership interest in Twitty Park and another undeveloped plot near a county fire station.