By Eric Curl / Savannahagenda.com
Sept. 8, 2022 update – The Savannah City Council approved the D-C (Downtown Commercial) zoning classification, with conditions, as recommended by the Metropolitan Planning Commission.
Aug. 16, 2022 update – The MPC recommended approval of D-C (Downton Commercial) zoning with conditions. The zoning change will next go before the Savannah City Council for approval.
Aug. 15, 2022 – Long-dormant, the planned Riverview development may one day mirror the newly developed Eastern Wharf mixed-use community across President Street, with hotels, apartments, shops, restaurants and roof-top bars. First things first though. There’s zoning changes to be made.
Located between Randolph Street and the Bilbo Canal on one of the most heavily trafficked corridors into downtown Savannah, the property just east of General McIntosh Boulevard is on an almost 20-acre former industrial site that has sat vacant for years, with remnants of dilapidated warehouses sitting amidst overgrown vegetation.
Riverview President Street, LLC’s request for a Downtown-Central Business zoning classification, which allows for a broad array of uses typically found downtown, is going before the Metropolitan Planning Commission Tuesday.
While staff agrees that the current industrial zoning classification is inconsistent with the growing development pattern in the area, Riverview’s zoning request is being recommended for denial since it would lack some of the standards that control development downtown.
Instead, staff is recommending Downtown Commercial as an alternative zoning classification, with restrictions, which would reportedly allow for similar uses while providing better protection against potentially negative impacts.
Noting the proximity of the development to Housing Authority of Savannah’s affordable housing community, The View at Oglethorpe, in addition to an adjacent church, staff is primarily concerned with managing traffic and building heights since some downtown Historic District overlay restrictions do not apply to the site.
The proposed conditions would require that a general master plan be approved by the planning commission prior to the adoption of a zoning change. In addition, buildings would be limited to five stories or 50 feet in height when they are located within 100 feet of property lines of existing residential or institutional uses.
The rezoning request comes after the developer entered into a development agreement with the city in which a portion of property on the west end of the site would be exchanged so that the city could obtain property on the eastside for canal improvements. In addition to the land swap, the agreement ended litigation between the parties related to condemnation and blight on the site.
A drawing of the potential development submitted with rezoning request indicates a grocery store may be on tap for the east end of the site.
Support Savannah Agenda’s Affordable Housing Campaign
#StayEngagedSavannah
Subscribe to Savannah Agenda
[email-subscribers-form id=”1″]