A bitter, five-year-old dispute over where to expand the jail in coastal Glynn County appears to have a final resolution.

County commissioners formally voted to expand the jail away from downtown Brunswick.

The controversy was effectively resolved at the ballot box last year, when voters elected a majority of commissioners opposed to a jail expansion near the Brunswick waterfront.

Business and civic leaders believed expanding there would be bad for development.

County commissioner Amy Calloways says, the new majority waited until now to consider other sites, this week choosing two possible locations.

"It puts some closure to the jail situation," Calloway says. "We've made a formal decision to not expand the jail downtown."

Calloway says, at least one commissioner still expressed preference for the downtown site.

Proponents of downtown expansion thought the location, near the county courthouse, was logical for a jail.

"It's been going on for so long," Calloways says. "There was such a huge public outcry against the jail being expanded downtown."

The vote, however, was unanimous.

Tags: Glynn County, Brunswick, Defend Downtown Brunswick, jail expansion, GPB News, Amy Calloway