Savannah council approves land-use changes for Godley Station area after years of debate over warehouses and truck traffic

The Savannah City Council on Jan. 9 approved a set of companion petitions to update the Godley Station master plan and reclassify portions of roughly 220 acres near Jimmy DeLoach Parkway and Highlands Boulevard, clearing the way for a mixed-use development concept while adding binding conditions that set minimum residential densities and require future site-plan review.

The decisions follow more than a decade of back-and-forth over large-scale industrial proposals for the same tracts. City planning staff and the developer presented the revisions as a compromise: commercial uses retained along Benton and Highlands boulevards, limited light-industrial uses located behind those commercial wings, and a separate large tract (referred to as C‑17) withdrawn from any industrial use and targeted instead for residential-focused development.

City planning director Edward Morrow told council the petitions implement a “suburban retrofit” approach consistent with Plan 2040 by allowing mixed use where single-use commercial once stood. The planning commission recommended approval after working with the petitioner and staff on a…