Speak now about the proposed Unified Zoning Ordinance or forever hold your peace.
Such is the message from the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission, the Savannah Chamber of Commerce and the Savannah Economic Development Authority. The three entities will team to host a series of information sessions over the next two months about the ordinance intended to dictate zoning in the city of Savannah and unincorporated Chatham County.
Each of the nine meetings, the first of which is Wednesday, will address how the ordinance will impact a specific sector, from religious organizations to retailers. The hope is the proactive approach will prevent or at least minimize the 11th-hour backlash the Unified Zoning Ordinance, better known as UZO, met with a year ago.
“This is the ‘now’ part,” said Tom Thomson, executive director of the Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC). “We want to reach the people who otherwise might wait until the last minute to raise noise. We need their input now to move forward.”
Several trade organizations mounted opposition near the end of the original public comment period in 2011. Groups involved with real estate, economic development, marina operations, auto sales and convenience stores balked at what one local attorney characterized as “sweeping changes” to the zoning rules in place since the mid-1960s.
The business community response led the Chamber and SEDA to craft a letter of the MPC urging a sector-by-sector approach as part of the review process.
The pushback led the MPC board to push for a suspension of the process. Thomson and his staff opted instead to slow the review process and “scrub” and “polish” the draft.
“The perception we received was the new ordinance will be good for the community, but the devil is in the details,” Thomson said.
Staff worked on the detail for the first half of this year and released a new draft of the ordinance in July. The MPC board has been reviewing that draft line-by-line in meetings since.
That process will continue concurrent to the public information sessions as will reviews with new city attorney Brooks Stillwell and county attorney Jon Hart.
Thomson projects the review process to stretch into the late spring. The MPC board would then issue a recommendation on the ordinance and send it to the Savannah City Council and the Chatham County Commission for review and approval.
Adoption is unlikely to come before 2014, Thomson said.
Simplifying the complex
The UZO is a complex document outlining regulations for everything from property uses and signage to the process for filing development plans and requesting variances.
The document is more than 600 pages long and a complete rewrite, not a blending, of the city and county zoning ordinances in place for a half-century. The MPC staff and two committees spent nearly five years in crafting the UZO.
The MPC staff also hosted dozens of public meetings with neighborhood associations and industry groups regarding the document. But many were sparsely attended, which is what made the public angst frustrating to the staff.
The public apathy during the process is what prompted the Chamber and SEDA to get involved with promoting the information sessions this time.
“Our whole goal is to help them reach the masses,” said Courtney Hester, the Chamber’s government relations manager. “Now is the time for the public to hear and be heard. They have more of an opportunity to change things now than they would at the end of the process.”
The MPC has also introduced tools to help members of the public better understand the UZO on their own. The ordinance’s website, www.unifiedzoning.org, includes a matrix of questions and answers, as well as a UZOOM tool. UZOOM users can compare information on the existing and proposed zoning rules for any property in Savannah or unincorporated Chatham County.
The MPC staff has also made a point of looking at every zoning petition and appeal that has come before its boards this year through the UZO prism. The results are clear, said the MPC’s Charlotte Moore, who has led the UZO efforts.
“There would be far fewer variance requests,” Moore said. “From that perspective, the UZO would be an improvement over what exists now.”
Seeing big picture
No matter how shiny the scrubbing and polishing makes the UZO, the ordinance is not going to satisfy everyone, acknowledges the MPC’s Thomson.
The stickiest source of angst is use changes tied to zoning districts. Many zones will change, and their uses with them, with UZO. The document also streamlines many uses in existing zones.
The goal of the changes is to allow uses appropriate to the zone. But commercial property owners are reluctant to lose any use, no matter how appropriate — or realistic — landing a tenant offering that service is, and label such changes as either “upzoning” or “downzoning.”
“We need to get away from that,” Thomson said. “It should be about the best place for a use going forward.”
The second draft shows “progress,” said one local attorney who closely examined and found many faults with the first draft a year ago. The MPC staff’s willingness to listen to concerns and be flexible with the document has improved it.
“Staff is great to work with and extremely helpful when you get issues in front of them,” said Harold Yellin, who specializes in real estate law with the HunterMaclean legal firm. “You can’t expect the staff to know everything about every industry. That’s why these meetings are so important.”
The MPC’s Thomson is hoping on a strong turnout for the meetings. The Chamber has been pushing out information to its membership through email blasts and other means, Hester said. The MPC, likewise, is issuing public notices and advertising the meetings on the Unified Zoning website.
“It’s important to get as many eyes on the draft now as possible,” Thomson said, “because it’s more efficient that way.”
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UZO Public Information Sessions
The Metropolitan Planning Commission in conjunction with the Savannah Chamber of Commerce and the Savannah Economic Development Authority will stage nine public information sessions regarding the proposed Unified Zoning Ordinance. All meetings will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. at the MPC’s Mendonsa Hearing Room at 112 E. State St. Each meeting will address UZO’s impact on a specific sector. The schedule is as follows:
DATES, TOPICS
Wednesday -- education sector
Thursday -- religious institutions
Dec. 6 -- office sector
Dec. 11 -- industrial sector
Jan. 9 -- health care sector
Jan. 16 -- lodging sector
Jan. 23 -- restaurants, bars, clubs
Jan. 28 -- vehicle/watercraft dealers and services
Jan. 30 -- retail and service sector
The public can also learn more about UZO online at unifiedzoning.org. The website includes a matrix of questions and answers and the UZOOM tool, which allows users to compare information on the existing and proposed zoning rules for any property in Savannah or unincorporated Chatham County.
ABOUT THE UZO
The proposed Unified Zoning Ordinance will dictate zoning laws in the City of Savannah and unincorporated Chatham County. It would combine separate ordinances created by the city and county 50 years ago and reflect more of a 21st century approach to development.
UZO TIMELINE
2002 to 2006 – Unified comprehensive land use plan developed for Savannah and unincorporated Chatham County
Jan. to July 2007 – Report analyzing problems with existing zoning ordinances and policies and goals for addressing problems compiled.
July 2007 to June 2011 – UZO first draft crafted by staff with input from technical and advisory committees, neighborhood, community, stakeholder and board meetings, city and county staff and the MPC board.
June 2011 – UZO draft released to public, comment period opens
Sept. 2011 – Public comment period extended
Oct. 2011 – Trade organizations lead public backlash against UZO
Nov. 2011 – MPC director agrees to slow down process and “scrub” and “polish” draft.
June 2011 – MPC board begins line-by-line review of new draft of UZO
July 2011 – New draft of UZO released to public
Nov. 2011 – Public information sessions announced for sector-by-sector review of new draft