The Mayor and Aldermen approved this request (Planning Commission's Alternative) after the Zoning Hearing at the April 12, 2019 City Council Regular Meeting. The action being considered now is the approval of an ordinance for the rezoning of portions of 0 Sterling Street to the R-M-25 Zoning District.

Joshua Yellin as an agent for the Housing Authority of Savannah and Pennrose Properties, LLC (File No. 19-000874-ZA) is requesting approval of a rezoning map amendment for portions of a single parcel lying on both the east and west sides of Wheaton Street north of Waters Avenue, to rezone said portions from existing R-M-25 (Residential Multi-Family, 25 units per acre), R-4 (Four-Family Residential), B-C (Community-Business) and I-L (Light Industrial) zoning designations to a R-M-40 (Residential Multi-Family, 40 units per acre) designation.

However, the Planning Commission is recommending approval to rezone the property to R-M-25 as an alternative to the proposed R-M-40 (File No. 19-001847-ZA).

The subject property, as a whole, consists of a single 16.87 acre parcel located on both the east and west sides of Wheaton Street just north of Waters Avenue. However, only 3.9 acres of the subject site is proposed to be rezoned. The subject site is currently owned by the Housing Authority of Savannah and is improved with the River Point II housing complex. The petitioner in this case is not the Housing Authority of Savannah but rather Pennrose Properties, LLC, a private development company based out of Philadelphia. The Housing Authority of Savannah plans to enter into a ground lease with Pennrose. Although the aerial photographs show approximately 22 existing River Point II units that would be subject to the rezoning, those 22 units were recently demolished. The only existing structure subject to the rezoning is the River Pointe Management Office located at 939 Wheaton St. The applicant provided the attached Concept Development Plan dated January 30, 2019 to show a possible development, but wishes the flexibility to go in a different direction, so the rezoning does not include a General Development Plan.

The subject property sits directly on a CAT transit route and is less than a 15-minute walk to downtown. There is a public interest in constructing more housing—especially affordable housing—in locations easily accessible to job centers in the historic core. However, the requested R-M-40 zoning designation is denser than surrounding parcels and would permit a residential density almost twice that shown on the conceptual plan. As an alternative, the R-M-25 designation would be consistent with surrounding zoning and would still permit between 50-70 units to be constructed on-site.

On March 12, 2019 the Planning Commission voted to recommend denial of the request to rezone the subject areas from the R-4, RM-25, B-C, and I-L Zoning Districts to the R-M-40 Zoning District and alternatively recommends approval to rezone the subject area to the R-M-25 Zoning District. This approval is contingent upon the submittal of a subdivision application for the impacted portions of the property.

Clerk of Council Petition No. 190179 was submitted in April 2019 to declare the Reid Ct and Edinburgh Ct cul-de-sacs as surplus and to sell them to the Housing Authority of Savannah for the purpose of the continuing redevelopment of the Edgar Blackshear Homes. This Petition was accompanied by the attached Proposed Development Area (Exhibit 9: Site Development Concept v2) dated April 1, 2019 that shows another possible plan for the subject property.

The Housing Authority of Savannah Clarifications

• HAS would like to clarify that the single 16.87 acre parcel will remain contiguous.  HAS does not intend to sell the 3.9 acre portion of the parcel subject to rezoning, and plans to enter into a ground lease with the future development Owner entity.

• The housing units included as part of the subject property on Exhibit 2 have been demolished as part of HAS’s revitalization efforts. The only existing structure subject to rezoning is the River Pointe Management Office located at 939 Wheaton Street.

Approval based on the following condition(s):

• A Subdivision Plat be submitted, reviewed, and approved by the City of Savannah.