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limited light-industrial uses located behind those commercial wings, and a separate large tract (referred to as C‑17) withdrawn from any industrial use and targeted instead for residential-focused development.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 master-plan update.

Neighbors and representatives of the newly formed Highlands Neighborhood Association said they negotiated repeatedly with the developer and supported the latest plan, though some nearby residents remained concerned about truck traffic and the risk that improvements to nearby roads could erode an existing truck ban on Highlands Boulevard.

Resident Matthew Emmer told council that the central concern remains trucks accessing the site via Highlands Boulevard; he said the concept plan provides no contractual guarantee that apartments or other residential uses will be built and warned that, if truck access is allowed from Highlands, the neighborhood’s truck ban could be undermined.

Developer representatives and the petitioner said the plan reserves commercial frontage on Benton and Highlands (about 32 acres total: about 24 acres along Benton and about 8.8 acres along Highlands) and places smaller-scale industrial uses in the middle of the alpha tract so that they back onto existing warehouses across the street rather than front residential areas. The petitioner stressed that the concept shown to council is conceptual and that the details, including buffering and final traffic routing, will be reviewed at the site-plan stage by the Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC).

MPC staff and the petitioner also noted several staff-recommended conditions to address community concerns, including: requiring the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers jurisdictional determination when applicable; applying the city’s natural resource standards; requiring MPC approval of a general development plan for certain parcels prior to site development permits; and setting minimum residential density “floors” for three parcels (parcel G: at least 5 dwelling units/acre; parcel H: at least 8.3 du/acre; parcel I: at least 14 du/acre). Those minimums were adopted to ensure a baseline level of housing is provided rather than purely commercial or warehouse uses.

Council members and staff also discussed roadway improvements as part of a likely development agreement, including dedicating land and designing intersection upgrades near Jimmy DeLoach to improve capacity. City staff said there is an existing city right-of-way behind the site (reported in discussion as a 60‑foot or 90‑foot right-of-way) that could be improved to create a new connector and relieve pressure on Highlands and Benton.

Council member Bernetta B. Lanier moved approval of the future land use map amendment and related zoning items; the council then considered first and second readings where applicable and passed the measures. Council emphasized that final site plans and any variances will return to MPC and provide the public and neighbors with additional review and comment opportunities.

Council members asked staff to prioritize strict buffering and to hold petitioners to the development standards the council adopted; staff said MPC and other reviewing departments would enforce the applicable standards and could deny permits if infrastructure, stormwater, water/sewer, or traffic warrants are not met.

The approvals mark the third major council review of large development concepts on these parcels in recent years and reflect a negotiated compromise between neighbors seeking fewer warehouse impacts and a developer seeking to use the large, outlying parcels for mixed uses and some industrial activity set away from homes.