This item was continued from the July 5, October 11, and October 25 City Council meetings.

The petition concerns a vacant 1.18-acre-lot at 415 East Oglethorpe Avenue, between Habersham and Price streets, which is currently used for Savannah Police Headquarters parking. The petitioner, Harold Yellin for Bryson-Read, LLC, had originally proposed rezoning the property from RIP-C to B-C (File No. 18-002591-ZA).

On June 5, 2018, the Planning Commission voted to recommend denial of the proposed rezoning of 415 East Oglethorpe Avenue and approval of an alternative, which would amend the Zoning Ordinance to allow the upper-story residential use in the RIP-C Zoning District (File No.18-003306-ZA).  Currently, the upper-story residential use is only permitted in the B-C and B-G Zoning Districts (Sec. 8-305(b) Business & Industrial) within the Savannah Historic District. The upper-story residential use is not currently permitted in the Conservation & Residential Zoning Districts (Sec. 8-3025(a)), which includes the RIP-C Zoning District.

On January 21, 2016, the Mayor & Aldermen created the upper-story residential use, which is defined as "One or more residential dwelling units above a ground floor nonresidential use" (15-005698-ZA).

The purpose of the mixed-use zoning districts prevalent in downtown (the RIPs) is to allow for uses to be establish that are consistent with the development pattern and for the buildings that house those uses to be visually compatible with other structures for which they are visually related.  The existing RIP-C Zoning District allows for these purposes to be realized.  The proposed B-C Zoning District is a suburban commercial district with standards more suitable for areas outside of the Landmark Historic District.