Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Stormwater Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Savannah begins community engagement on stormwater utility fee; council urges plain-language outreach
Summary
Water resources staff outlined an outreach plan for a potential stormwater utility and user fee, proposing district meetings, breakout sessions and technical analysis; council members asked for simplified presentations, focus groups and targeted engagement in high-impact neighborhoods.
City water-resources staff on March 13 described a public engagement program to explore a stormwater utility and user fee as a potential funding mechanism for stormwater projects. Staff said engagement would pair public outreach with technical analysis and could lead to a council recommendation in 2026.
The outreach plan calls for neighborhood meetings in each district, breakout groups modeled on the city’s recent strategic-plan process, on-site visits to problem drainage locations, and a mix of funding scenarios that blend general fund, SPLOST, grant money and a potential stormwater fee. Staff said they will set up a 311 table at meetings to log urgent service requests.
Councilors — particularly members representing the West Side and low-lying neighborhoods — urged staff to make presentations as simple and concrete as possible so residents understand the consequences of action and inaction. Members recommended focus groups drawn from each district to help staff refine messaging and answer neighborhood-specific questions. Aldermen specifically asked staff to show on-site examples (Hull Park, Springfield Canal, Fort Pulaski tide gauge and named neighborhood sites) so residents could see how proposed investments would address local flooding and sea-level impacts.
Staff emphasized the engagement will be iterative and that technical modeling is being done in parallel with public meetings. The goal, officials said, is to use community feedback together with engineering analysis to form a recommendation for council whether to adopt a stormwater utility as a city funding tool in 2026.
Ending: Council supported robust outreach, plain-language explanations of fee structures and targeted engagement in neighborhoods most affected by drainage problems; staff will return with summarized community feedback and technical findings prior to any formal fee proposal.
