Savannah has justifiably earned worldwide attention for its historic preservation efforts.
But we have lost many buildings over the years, and some of our historic neighborhoods are still dotted with empty lots.
Some of those lots are especially prominent in the urban landscape — like the one at the southwest corner of Park Avenue and Bull Street
That lot has more than 130 feet of frontage on Park Avenue and more than 100 feet on Bull Street. Years ago, there was a modest daycare facility on that corner, but that is long gone.
Now it looks as if something exciting is going to happen on the site, but only if the development team can clear some complex bureaucratic hurdles.
The plan for the One West Park Avenue development includes three townhouses facing Park Avenue, two townhouses facing Bull Street and a four-story, seven-unit apartment building on the corner with a modest ground floor commercial space.
Two of the single-family homes facing Park would have carriage houses with garages accessible via Park Lane. The development would have 15 off-street parking spaces, would not exceed the current height limit of 40 feet and would respect the existing architecture to the west, south and east.
No trees would need to be removed. The total lot coverage would be well below the limit if the property remained a single parcel.
Across Bull Street is the massive American Legion complex, which includes not only Post #135 but also an interesting mix of commercial enterprises — Local 11 Ten, Brighter Day Natural Foods, The Sentient Bean and Le Chai.
Brad Baugh, one of the One West Park Avenue developers, actually lives next door to the proposed development. He has been working for months with Sottile & Sottile on the current designs.
Christian Sottile and his colleague, Craig Clements, presented those plans in considerable detail last week to a group of neighbors and a few others.
“This is fantastic,” said neighbor Hugh Golson, former chairman of the Historic District Board of Review. “This is one of the most exciting things I’ve seen for this neighborhood.”
So if this is such a good project that’s attracting a ringing endorsement from a neighbor like Golson, what possible hurdles could One West Park Avenue face?
As regular readers probably already know, many of our historic neighborhoods are governed by outdated zoning codes better suited for suburban style development.
I live less than five blocks from One West Park Avenue in the Thomas Square neighborhood, which was rezoned almost nine years ago. The current ordinance permits development much more in keeping with historical development patterns than the zoning patchwork that had hampered neighborhood investment for decades.
I live next door to a lovely mixed-use structure with minimal setbacks that probably never would have been built before the rezoning.
If the long-discussed United Zoning Ordinance were already in effect, many of the successful principles in Thomas Square would extend to Forsyth Park. One West Park Avenue might need a few variances even under the UZO, but far fewer than it needs now.
Most of the variances needed for One West Park Avenue deal with setbacks, but there are several others, too. Since the various components of the project are interdependent, a denial of any one variance could bring the proposed investment to a halt.
In his response to last week’s presentation by Sottile & Sottile, Golson emphasized what could happen to the lot if this plan is rejected.
Under current zoning, it would be pretty straightforward to build a 40-foot tall box of condos facing Park Avenue with an unsightly parking lot behind it. No variances at all would be needed.
And is that what we want on a key corner like Park and Bull?
As Sottile noted in his presentation, One West Park Avenue would help re-establish some of the frayed urban fabric in the neighborhood south of Forsyth Park.
As a longtime neighborhood resident who routinely walks up and down Bull Street, I’ve become well acquainted with the detrimental effects of vacant lots and of large, under-utilized surface parking lots.
Given the strengths of the plan, I can’t really imagine serious objections from anyone who lives in the neighborhood, but who knows? Our local bureaucracies have often been swayed by individuals who come late to the table with dubious objections.
Others might just take a cursory look at the project and conclude that there are simply too many requested variances.
But the problem isn’t with the project. It’s with the existing zoning ordinance, which too often puts obstacles in the way of good urban design.
City Talk appears every Tuesday and Sunday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net and http://www.billdawers.com. Send mail to 10 East 32nd St., Savannah, Ga. 31401.