The city of Savannah recently hired the consulting firm Barrett Sports Group to study various issues related to our long-planned new arena.
According to a City Council agenda, Barrett will “collect, analyze, understand and compare information necessary to make critical decisions related to the arena and existing Civic Center sites. This study will determine the function, size and program for a new arena that will serve the city and the surrounding communities.”
There has been some criticism of the $176,000 cost of the study, but the new arena is a huge project — certainly among the most expensive and most ambitious initiatives the city has undertaken in recent decades.
How big should our new arena be? How much parking will it require? How many overnight visitors are likely to attend events? How many new visitors will the new arena likely attract? What technical specifications will make the structure viable for most of the rest of the century?
It seems like we need some expert help on questions like those. I wonder, however, if the consulting team should be charged with studying the existing Civic Center site.
Before I start going into detail about a few issues, I should note that a new arena is many years away. Based on our recent experiences with the proposed cultural arts center, we might not have a new arena for more than a decade, even though the funding will be available long before that.
The decision to build a new arena just west of downtown was made well over a decade ago. Land acquisition was underway by 2004, and the westside location was widely known when voters overwhelmingly approved the continuation of the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax in 2006.
City officials threw those plans into turmoil, however, by saying that the site would not be big enough (even though there is ample space) and by inviting public debate about potential sites. At one point during the brief tenure of former city manager Rochelle Small-Toney, it seemed likely the new arena would be built off I-95 somewhere.
Given the contentiousness of those debates, I’m expecting a whole new round of public complaint about the chosen site, which has always seemed excellent to me. It’s an easily accessible spot in the no man’s land between West Boundary Street and Stiles Avenue.
Over time, however, the debate will shift back to the future of the current arena site.
There have been occasional rumblings about repurposing the current arena for some other public use, but that would make little logical sense. Even if we need yet another major public project, why would we use the current Civic Center site?
After all, our arena sits on some of the most valuable land in the region. We need to get that property back on the tax rolls, and private development will certainly stimulate more economic activity than a public use.
But here’s where things get tricky. If we just sell the existing arena site to the highest bidder, we might end up with another major hotel complex in the heart of the Historic District.
As I’ve argued before, I love tourists and think that we could accommodate many more than we currently do, but the proliferation of hotels in the heart of downtown over the past decade has degraded the residential character of the Historic District.
Of course, there are many other types of private development beyond hotels that would be suitable for the current arena site. I’ll discuss some of those in an upcoming column.
But first things first.
No matter what happens, we should insist on the restoration of the historic connectivity that was disrupted decades ago by the construction of the Civic Center.
The Oglethorpe Plan isn’t just a remarkable remnant of history. Oglethorpe’s vision for a ward system with a street grid and public squares provides a template for the future.
Even if the Johnny Mercer Theatre remains, the destruction of the arena would allow the reopening of Perry and McDonough streets between Barnard and Montgomery streets. Perry Lane could also be reestablished.
We might not be able to restore Elbert Square completely, but we could make some headway.
Jefferson Street could also be re-established between Liberty Street and Oglethorpe Avenue. Montgomery Street can be changed back into a two-way street, although we could do that any time.
By the way, I can only chuckle at those who think I hate cars or want to disrupt traffic. I want cars to go at safe speeds in residential areas, and I have consistently opposed excess road capacity, but I’m all about connectivity.
We can make downtown more economically vibrant if we concentrate on maximizing choices for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
Right now, drivers in the northwest quadrant of the Historic District have their options severely and unnecessarily limited by the restrictive traffic patterns around the Civic Center.
So as the consultants consider the site of the current Civic Center, here’s hoping they recognize the history and the continued relevance of Savannah’s original street grid.
City Talk appears every Tuesday and Sunday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 East 32nd St., Savannah, Ga. 31401.
By Bill Dawers