Port Wentworth lifts industrial rezoning moratorium, adopts new zoning ordinance
After a year, the City of Port Wentworth has lifted its industrial rezoning moratorium, once again allowing for applications that request to rezone land to industrial uses, such as for warehouses.
The expiration of the moratorium was contingent upon the city adopting the new zoning ordinance, which underwent a major overhaul for the last year and was approved during Thursday night's council meeting.
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Take a look: Port Wentworth's new zoning ordinance
Last summer, the city hired third-party consultants, Horizon Community Planning, to review and revise the city's ordinance, which had received criticism from residents, developers and city staff alike about its inconsistencies and incomprehensibility. The industrial moratorium was enacted to prevent additional parcels of land from being zoned to industrial uses, a grievance echoed by Port Wentworth's residents for decades, while Horizon Community Planning revamped the city's zoning laws.
As part of that process, a steering committee was established last summer to work with Horizon. Also, the city held multiple public workshops, a developer roundtable, and stakeholder meetings along with the required public hearings held before both the Planning Commission and City Council.
The final draft of the new ordinance features greater clarity in terms of readability, a clearer site plan review process, an updated zoning map and other improvements.
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Local zoning laws provide standards for four main types of development: residential, agricultural, commercial and industrial (other categories for places like historic districts and major business districts also exist and vary from city to city). Zoning laws are important because they protect the health, safety and welfare of a city; protect property values; balance community goals with private property rights; and support a city’s comprehensive plan.
While local governments regularly amend the zoning ordinance as new developments are proposed, years of changing administrations and stopgap amendments have introduced inconsistencies. For example, guidelines on landscaping and parking designs are missing. Subjective wording such as “be of high quality” and “proper scale” are found throughout the ordinance, too.
For the law to be effective, it should clearly outline specific height and size requirements so that developments that fall under the same categories are consistent and predictable.
One of the major issues the audit pointed out is Port Wentworth's liberal use of planned unit developments (PUD), which allows for variations in established and standard developments. It's created a "know-it-when-we-see-it" approach, according to auditors.
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"Since 1989, almost everything has been PUD creating a bunch of different little projects with diff standards. Everything has become their own defacto zoning so you have to go back and look at each plan for the development rather than the zoning ordinance," said City Manager Steve Davis.
Prior to the overhaul, the ordinance hadn't been revisited in three decades, according to Davis.
Port Wentworth's urban planning woes date back just as long to when the city annexed 20 square miles of land that became known as North Port Wentworth. The annexation tripled the size of the city and, with the aim of increasing resident population, experienced a massive development boom, a growth spurt that the city was ill-prepared to handle.
While the expansion was meant to bolster residential and commercial growth to counter industrial pressures from the neighboring Georgia Ports Authority, poor planning resulted in inadequate public services and commercial resources. Industry still subsumed much of Port Wentworth's once-agricultural and residential land.
The zoning overhaul and industrial rezoning moratorium was one of several moves the city has taken to redress the oversights of the past. Ongoing efforts include attracting commercial resources to the city, building recreational facilities such as the sports complex, and preparing for a revision of the comprehensive plan, which guides the municipality's overall vision.
Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Port Wentworth lifts industrial rezoning moratorium after a year
