Most readers of this column come for details about what’s new around town, but sometimes it’s nice to step back a little and take a broader view.
As most of you know, we’re in the midst of some major developments in and around downtown Savannah.
New hotels are slated for both ends of River Street and elsewhere in the Historic District.
Several large new apartment complexes are also rising out of the ground. Those will bring some much-needed population density that will help support a variety of neighborhood businesses.
But some of the most promising areas for denser development face uncertain futures.
Consider the blocks south of Forsyth Park in the Victorian, Metropolitan and Thomas Square neighborhoods.
The area is high ground that would remain relatively dry even in a major hurricane.
The proximity to the park and to downtown would make the area attractive for residential development.
Some heavily trafficked corners and corridors are obvious spots for commercial development.
Much of the neighborhood has already been zoned to allow a variety of appropriate uses.
For all the promise, there are many obstacles and uncertainties.
The old Sears building and its parking lot occupy an entire city block just a moment’s walk from Forsyth Park.
The former fire station and several other buildings on Henry Street are empty or underutilized.
The fire station at Whitaker and 33rd streets has now been occupied, but the city-owned building adjacent to it on Bull Street is still boarded up.
Within a couple of years, the Department of Cultural Affairs will leave its home on Henry Street empty too.
The behemoth of the BellSouth building also takes up an entire city block in the heart of the city.
Several blocks in the neighborhood are devoted to ugly church parking lots that are fully utilized for only a few hours each week.
The health department’s clinic at 32nd and Drayton streets is one of the ugliest buildings in town. That structure and its parking lot across Drayton Street occupy parcels that would probably be worth close to $1 million if put on the market together.
I’ve lived in the neighborhood for many years, and part of me enjoys the general quiet and emptiness.
But development in this neighborhood and in other similarly underutilized areas in the core of the city could help fuel Savannah’s culture and economy throughout this century.
Savannahians often seem to want it all
That trait might be common in other cities, too, but it seems more pronounced here.
Maybe it has something to do with the size of the city or maybe with the fact we have so many influential constituencies with sometimes-conflicting interests.
For example, we want our riverfront to be scenic, tourist-friendly and highly industrialized.
We want the Savannah River to be a beautiful, thriving environment for recreation; at the same time we want the river to handle mega-sized ships traveling up one of the longest, most deeply dredged channels in the nation.
The Corps of Engineers thinks it can pull off this balancing act for about $700 million, but doubts abound.
And consider Hutchinson Island.
Despite the island’s low elevation and poor accessibility to the rest of the city, we want Hutchinson to have two hotels and a busy convention center.
We want it to have office buildings.
We want it to have a high-end spa and a world-class golf course.
We want it to have relatively dense but luxurious residential development.
We want it to have a racetrack.
And we even want that racetrack to serve as a public road providing access to other properties on the island.
Grand Prize of America Avenue links to Fig Island Drive, the home to Crescent Towing on the east end of Hutchinson. The track also connects to the back of the Reserve, which is likely to see another attempt at major residential development in the next couple of years.
The road will also be needed for access to three large parcels slated for development. Two of those parcels are wedged right up against the track, and the third will likely require a new access road.
It seems pretty obvious that there are inherent incompatibilities here.
Last week’s tragic death of Ben Tucker in an accident on Hutchinson Island has shined a public spotlight on the issues involving the racetrack, but we’ve known about the relevant ones for years now.
The use of the track by thrill-seeking joy riders was widely known and inadequately addressed.
I had some folks jumping down my throat last fall when I said that simply the noise from the racetrack during a three-day event proved incompatible with a destination city being marketed for its charm.
But the problems obviously go far beyond noise.
Hutchinson Island planners and developers are going to have to make some tough choices.
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.