IN THIS ISSUE
1New MPC Officers Sworn In
2African American Monument Gets an Update
3CORE MPO’s Mobility 2045 Plan Update
5NewZO Executive Summary
7A Focus on Resilience & SAGIS Property Map Viewer Updates
MPC NEWSLETTERFALL 2019
Metropolitan Planning Commission Newsletter | Fall 2019 1
NEW MPC OFFICERS SWORN IN
The Board of the Metropolitan Planning Commission swore in new officers at their last meeting on October 29. Pictured above from L to R: Joseph Welch, Treasurer; Ellis Cook, Vice-Chairman; Joseph Ervin, Chairman; Karen Jarrett, Secretary.
DON’T FORGET TO WINTERIZE YOUR HOME
Winterizing your home doesn’t have to cost a lot of money and much of it you can do yourself. Here are some helpful tips on how to make small, inexpensive improvements that will help keep your home warm and toasty throughout winter:
• Change furnace filters monthly during heating season
• Run fans on reverse to help circulate warm air
• Turn down your water heater and cover it with a water heater blanket
• Make sure your fireplace flue is closed all the way and that you cannot feel any cold air coming in when it’s closed
• Cover any door drafts • Tune-up your heating system• Caulk and weather strip your windows• Improve the insulation in your attic, crawl
spaces, and exposed areas of decks. Don’t forget your pipes!
• Lower your thermostat when you’re not home and when you’re sleeping
Metropolitan Planning Commission Newsletter | Fall 2019 2
AFRICAN AMERICAN MONUMENT GETS AN UPDATE
The African American monument, designed by artist Dorothy Spradley, was erected at Rousakis Plaza on River Street in 2002 to hon-or the contributions made by Savannah’s African-American citizens. This location places the mon-ument in the spot where many Africans first stepped foot off of the ships that car-ried them from Africa. The monument represents the inclusion of slavery and the African-American experience
within Savannah. It serves as a reminder of the important people who literally and figuratively built this city.
The City of Savannah publicly acknowledged its involvement in the institution of slavery in 2007, five years after the African-American Monument was unveiled. That same year, a second me-morial to the black contribution to Savannah, the Haitian Monument, was unveiled in Franklin Square. Seventeen years after the original dedication of the monument, the outdated plaque included on the base of the monument received a much-needed update. The new plaque commemorates the hard work of Dorothy Spradley and better represents the peoples for whom the monument was erected. The dedication of the new plaque happened on July 26 of this year.
Metropolitan Planning Commission Newsletter | Fall 2019 3
CORE MPO’S MOBILITY 2045 PLAN UPDATE
Did You Know? The Coastal Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (CORE MPO) works with our regional transporta-tion planning partners to create a regional Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP).
Mobility 2045 is the CORE MPO’s Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP, formerly Long Range Transportation Plan or LRTP) that looks at how Savannah’s transportation system will grow and change to meet the needs of those who live, work, and play in Savannah. The CORE MPO Mobility 2045 Plan identifies projects and funding sources to help create a transportation system that is safe, efficient, and equitable for everyone.
Click here to view the Mobility 2045 Plan
Click here to view an interactive map of projects to be funded in the Mobility 2045 Plan
Mobility 2045 is an investment plan for the Savannah Urbanized Area within Bryan and Effingham Counties and all of Chatham County (our planning area). The plan allocates avail-able Federal, state and local funds to maintain and improve our transportation system over the next 26 years. Under Federal law, the plan must be “financially feasible,” meaning only revenues that can be reasonably expected can be considered in funding the recommendations documented within Mobility 2045.
Mobility 2045 builds on previous efforts by integrating existing ideas, concepts and plans with the latest available information and public opinion. Affordable projects are specific improvements we can afford to build over the next 26 years. The Vision Plan consists of un-funded needs, which are identified projects we cannot currently afford, but would implement should additional funding become available.
The LRTP was adopted on August 7, 2019 by the CORE MPO Board.
Contributing Plans. In the development of Mobility 2045, CORE MPO staff emphasized the key plans and policy initiatives that have been directed by the CORE MPO Board and developed by MPO staff in recent years, including complete streets, non-motorized transportation, congestion management, and context sensitive solutions. Other plans, although not incorporated here, were also considered in the development of this plan. Plans incorporated by reference include: CORE MPO Thoroughfare Plan and the CORE MPO Non-Motorized Transportation Plan. Other
Metropolitan Planning Commission Newsletter | Fall 2019 4
plans which informed the content of Mobility 2045 include the CORE MPO Congestion Management Process, the CORE MPO Freight Plan, the US 80 Bridges Study, the CORE MPO Victory Drive Corridor Study, the Southwest Chatham County Sector Plan, the US 17 Sector Study, and the Victory Drive – Skidaway Rd. Sector Study.
This is Your Plan. Mobility 2045 has been developed with your input in mind, together with that of the private sector and our planning partners at the Federal, state, regional and local levels. The Plan is intended to respond to the changing needs within our planning area. Get connected and stay involved.
For more information, please contact Stephanie Rossi at [email protected] or Mark Wilkes at [email protected], or visit https://www.thempc.org/CORE.
Coming In the Next Issue: CORE MPO authorized funding for two traffic studies in the Fall of 2017, the I-95 / Airways Avenue Interchange Study and the I-16 / Little Neck Road / Future Jimmy DeLoach Parkway interchange study. Each study is being con-ducted in order to identify the best solutions to address existing and future traffic congestion at their respective interchanges while meeting the federal requirements for changes in access to the interstate highway system.
The next issue of the MPC newsletter will present the preliminary recommended improve-ment concepts and cost estimates for both interchanges.
Metropolitan Planning Commission Newsletter | Fall 2019 5
NEWZO EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The New Zoning Ordinance became effective on September 1 and is now the official zoning document of the City of Savannah. Development Services staff has provided a detailed summary of the document. The summary provides background information on the existing ordinance, as well as a number of compar-isons between the current and proposed ordinances. These comparisons include zoning districts, development standards, public notice procedures and more.
Additionally, the summary outlines various review procedures and uses clear graphics to show the many improve-ments established in the new ordinance. Because the old ordinance and NewZo are different in terms of the names of many of the zoning districts and uses allowed in those districts, it is not al-ways an apples to apples comparison. However, the summary does identify what Development Services staff believes are the key differences and the significant improvements. The public can access the Executive Summary by visiting the NewZo website at www.newzo.org and clicking the New City of Savannah Zoning Ordinance link on the left, or by clicking here.
Metropolitan Planning Commission Newsletter | Fall 2019 6
NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS ON THE RISE FOR MPC
Between January and June 2019, MPC staff saw a significant increase in activity over the same period last year. The charts below represent activity in both the City of Savannah and unincor-porated Chatham County. This activity is driven primarily by significant increases in the areas of Historic Preservation, Site Plan, and Subdivision review. These patterns are expected to continue as Savannah continues to be a destination for the development community.
ZBA, 81, 11%
Historic, 327, 46%
Site Plans, 114, 16%
Zonings & Text Amendments,
27, 4%
Subdivisions, 132, 19%
Wireless, 26, 4%
2019 : JANUARY TO DATE TOTAL APPLICATIONS
ZBA, 95, 18%
Historic, 282, 52%
Site Plans, 32, 6%
Zonings & Text Amendments,
38, 7%
Subdivisions, 54, 10%
Wireless, 40, 7%
2018 : JANUARY -JUNE
Metropolitan Planning Commission Newsletter | Fall 2019 7
A FOCUS ON RESILIENCE
As the region experiences more frequent and intense flooding episodes as well as other impacts associated with a changing climate, the MPC is making resiliency a focus of future planning efforts in the City of Savannah and Chatham County. Comprehensive Planning and Natural Resources staff have been participating in discussions of community flooding issues led by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, and are currently working on a grant application to create a re-gional resilience network. Staff are also working on the SMART Sea Level Sensors project with the goal of quantifying the short- and long-term risks associated with continued sea level rise. These projects will inform how we plan for the future to make our community more resilient.
PROPERTY MAP VIEWER UPDATED
The SAGIS Property Map Viewer has been updated with additional property analysis tools. Watch our help videos to learn how to use these advanced analysis options. You can now search for property by sale price, sale date, zon-ing, and other details. You can even combine criteria to search all of these conditions at once. Google Earth and new measurement tools have been added, as well as charts and graphs of property sale price and value and zoning distribution.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri
4 5 6 7 8
11 12 13 14 15
18 19 20 21 22
25 26 27 28 29
NO
VEM
BER
2 3 4 5 6
9 10 11 12 13
16 17 18 19 20
23 24 25 26
Office Closed
27
DEC
EMB
ER
MPC1:30 p.m.
1
MPC1:30 p.m.
County ZBA9:00 a.m.
MPC Planning1:00 p.m.
County ZBA9:00 a.m.
City ZBA10:00 a.m.
City ZBA10:00 a.m.
Historic Review Board
1:00 p.m.
Historic Review Board
1:00 p.m.
Site & Monument4:00 p.m.
CORE MPO TCC2:00 p.m.
Site & Monument4:00 p.m.
CORE MPO CAC5:30 p.m.
CORE MPO ACAT1:00 p.m.
CORE MPO10:00 a.m.
Christmas Day
Office Closed
**All meetings will be held in the County Commission Chambers located at 124 Bull Street, Savannah, GA 31401
Thanksgiving Day
Office Closed
Christmas Eve
Office Closed
Office Closed
Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri
6 7 8 9 10
13 14 15 16 17
20 21 22 23 24
27 28 29 30 31
JAN
UA
RY 2
020
MPC1:30 p.m.
1 2 3
Site & Monument4:00 p.m.
Historic Review Board
1:00 p.m.
Historic Preservation Commission
3:00 p.m.
City ZBA10:00 a.m.
County ZBA9:00 a.m.
**All meetings will be held in the County Commission Chambers located at 124 Bull Street, Savannah, GA 31401
TIPS FROM IT
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110 East State StreetSavannah, Georgia 31412
912-651-1440www.thempc.org
Melanie WilsonExecutive Director
Pamela EverettAssistant Executive Director,Compliance and Operations
Debbie Burke
Kait Morano
John Kidd
Kevin MacLeod
Lara Hall
Mandy Terkhorn
David Ramsey
Julie Yawn
Roger Beall
Alyson Smith
Leah Michalak
Ryan Jarles
Christy Adams
Jessica Hagan
Mary Mitchell
Sabrina Finau
Sally Helm
James Small
Mark Wilkes
Stephanie Rossi
Wykoda Wang
Candra Teshome
Marcus Lotson
Matt Lonnerstater
Gary Plumbley
Sandy Michel
MPC STAFF
