By Eric Curl
June 9, 2024 – The Tybee Island City Council will consider acquiring property for $2.4 million on the island’s north end, while the Metropolitan Planning Commission will consider a proposed height amendment that would allow for the construction of a 5-story hotel on the western edge of Savannah’s Downtown Historic District. Read who else is meeting and what is on the agenda in the week ahead.
The Chatham County Board of Elections meets at 3:30 p.m. on Monday.
The agenda is now available to view.
The Chatham-Savannah Land Bank Authority is meeting on Tuesday at the Old County Courthouse at 124 Bull St.
The agenda for the meeting is now available. The board will consider increasing the maximum sales price for home sales from $238,500 to $255,000. Organized under the state laws of Georgia, the authority was created to acquire vacant, abandoned, blighted and tax delinquent properties and assist in the return of the properties to a productive use. The maximum sales price is part of the authority’s guidelines and requirements, which are meant to ensure most properties can be purchased by households earning 80% of the area median income or less.
The Housing Authority of Savannah is meeting at 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday at the HAS Neighborhood Resource Center, 1407 Wheaton St.
The agenda is now available to view.
The Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission is meeting at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday at 112 E. State St.
The agenda for the meeting is now available to view. The meetings can be accessed remotely by registering via the MPC’s homepage.
The MPC will consider a petition to rezone 2180 East Victory from multi-family residential to an Office and Institutional classification so a 3-story self-storage warehouse can be developed.
Located between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah administrative building and an apartment complex, the 1.77-acre site includes a vacant 86-year-old residential structure and three similar accessory buildings. Staff is recommending approval of the proposed use, which they say is among the lowest traffic generators that would be allowed within the requested zoning district. Several phone calls and emails were received expressing opposition to the proposal, according to the staff report.
In addition, the MPC will consider a petition to amend the Downtown Historic District height map so that a 5-story hotel can be developed on parcels adjoining Cohen and Selma Streets.
The site is located next to the 2-story Savannah Station building. Historic Jewish cemeteries believed to date to the mid-1700s are also located next to the proposed development on both the north and south sides of Cohen Street.
Staff is recommending denial of the height amendment, finding it to be inappropriate for the area adjoining the 2-story Savannah Station, and less than the minimum 100-foot distance from burial plots required by current zoning regulations.
.The Savannah Historic District Board of Review is meeting at 1 p.m. on Wednesday at 112 E. State St.
The agenda is now available to view. Go to the Metropolitan Planning Commission’s home page to register to view the meeting online.
The Historic District Board of Review will consider proposed rehabilitation work and alterations to 5-story Hunter Maclean office building at 200 East Saint Julian St., which was purchased by Marriott last year, as previously reported.
The proposed alterations are part of a plan to convert the non-historic building into a 73-room hotel, according to the staff report.
Staff is recommending that consideration of the the proposed rehabilitation and alterations be postponed a maximum of 90 days to give the petitioner time to makes some design changes and provide some additional details.
The Chatham County Commission will hold budget hearings at 9:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. on June 13.
The proposed budget can be found here.
The Tybee Island City Council will hold a special called meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the public safety building, 78 Van Horne Avenue.
The agenda is available to view.
During the meeting, the city council City Council will consider acquiring property for $2.4 million. The property includes four acres of forest on the southwest corner of Solomon and Estill Avenues and Polk Street.
The city had previously taken legal action last year to acquire the property through eminent domain after the current owner, Joseph Christiansen, rejected the city’s offer for the site. The purpose listed in the April 2023 eminent domain resolution approved by the council said the property was needed for the “expansion of City facilities”, including, but not limited to the Department of Public Works; the potential installation of a deep well and water desalination or treatment facility, expansion by the campground for recreation property for conservation, and other public purposes.
The city later dropped the eminent domain case and negotiated the agreement with Christiansen.
The Tybee city council will also hold its regular meeting on Thursday.
The agenda is available to view. The city council will consider a second reading to adopt an amended Short Term Rental ordinance. The amended ordinance prohibits owners in residential zones from transferring their short-term rental licenses and also prohibits a new license from being reissued once a property is sold or transferred, as reported by WTOC.
The Chatham County Commission will meet at 9:30 a.m. on Friday at 124 Bull St.
The agenda for the meeting is now available to view. The meeting can be viewed online here.
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