It's a new year for Savannah City Council. Here are some key stories we will follow this year

The new year also ushered in a new Savannah City Council administration, bringing in the set of officials that will make important decisions for Savannah over the next four years.

That includes a host of important projects, policy decisions and regional issues confronting the new council. Here are a few of the top Savannah City Council stories the Savannah Morning News is tracking this year.

Future of Mercer: Leaders see value in Mercer Theatre; redevelopment options for rest of Civic Center site

Civic Center site redevelopment

The opening of Enmarket Arena on Savannah's west side and the aging of the 50-year-old Civic Center has left the city with a decision on the future of the Martin Luther King Jr. Arena and Johnny Mercer Theater.

City Council received a conceptual plan in April 2022 for the Civic Center, which would demolish the Martin Luther King Jr. Arena, retain and improve the Johnny Mercer Theater and develop a city office building on the Civic Center's north side. Mayor Van Johnson has signaled his support in recent months for keeping the Johnny Mercer Theater.

The 2022 proposal would restore a portion of the Oglethorpe Plan, but a study by the Urban Land Institute recommended the Civic Center complex be removed. The removal of the entire complex would allow for complete restoration of Elbert Square, according to the ULI study.

The site takes up about 7 acres in Savannah's National Landmark Historic District, and the ULI report estimated the property value at $12-$18 million when the study was done in 2018. Johnson said he is aiming for council to make a decision on the plan within the first six months of the year.

Next steps for "tourism development product" from hotel-motel tax

This year will mark the first full year of hotel-motel tax collections under the increase to 8% passed by City Council in May 2023. There is about $6.6 million in the 2024 budget for "tourism product development," which are the Savannah Riverfront redevelopment, Tide-to-Town Urban Trail Network and redevelopment of the Historic Water Works Building. Each project will likely have some next steps coming this year as part of longer five-year horizons; most construction costs are budgeted for 2025.

Waterfront redevelopment along River Street will go through preliminary engineering and conceptual planning this year, with about $3 million in hotel-motel money designated for the project in 2024. Previous concept plans for River Street included added greenery, enhanced walkways and proposed bike lanes. City Manager Jay Melder said in a December interview about tourism product development that the city needs to revisit conceptual plans to make sure they are still the right vision for the project.

More: For Residents and Visitors: Hotel-motel tax factors big impacts in Savannah's 2024 budget

Tide-to-Town is set to take some significant steps this year. The city received bids on a Request for Proposals in December for the next phase of the Truman Linear Park Trail, which will connect 52nd Street to DeRenne Avenue. The construction contract will have to be approved by City Council.

The redevelopment of the Historic Waterworks Building has about $2 million in hotel-motel money budgeted for 2024. A joint study in 2022 by Georgia Southern University and Savannah State University considered the potential of turning the building in a multi-use facility with a farmer's market, food hall and business incubator. City Council will determine the mix of uses for the project.

Policies to find "balance" with tourism, quality of life

The city's Tourism Advisory Committee was jam-packed to close out the year, where meetings on tourism's impact to quality of life in Savannah's core neighborhoods drew strong crowds. Resident concerns from Downtown to Thomas Square were led by the Downtown Neighborhood Association, which has proposed a set of policy items it would like the city to make.

More: Tourism concerns rise for Savannah's downtown residents as city, industry seek balance

More: Trolley companies respond to residents' concerns; propose solutions at tourism meeting

The initial set of proposals included a cap on the number of trolley tours and implementation of in-ear technology. Trolley company leaders proposed a set of reforms that were slightly different at the last TAC meeting of 2023. TAC has yet to provide a set of recommendations to City Council, but the group is likely to face a test on tourism in the coming year.

Gun safety ordinance

In August of last year Johnson said he intended to introduce a gun safety ordinance that would penalize gun owners who have firearms stolen from unlocked cars. A final draft is yet to come before council, but Johnson said previously it would likely require gun owners to securely store firearms without them being visible and also require stolen firearms be reported by the owner within 24 hours of discovering it was stolen.

Since the initial statement, Johnson has said legal review and last year's election season tabled the legislation.

More: Mayor to introduce ordinance targeting gun owners who leave guns unsecured in unlocked cars

Hotel Development Overlay expansion

The push to extend the hotel development overlay beyond downtown stalled in the Savannah-Chatham County Metropolitan Planning Commission last summer. Residents from the Thomas Square, Victorian and Cuyler-Brownville neighborhoods are pushing an expansion to the overlay to combat over tourism, they say.

The current overlay district designates where hotel development is allowed in Savannah's downtown, the proposed expansion would expand South from Gwinnett Street to Victory Drive with East Broad Street and Ogeechee Road as East/West boundaries.

Under the expansion, the overlay district would require an amendment to the map for any hotel development within the new areas. The policy will likely come back up in the MPC in the first few months of the year.

More: City Talk: Planning commission, City Council should listen to residents on hotel development

SCAD and a PILOT program

Calls for the Savannah College of Art and Design to agree to a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, program have grown louder in recent years. Better Savannah, a local policy advocacy group which commonly criticizes Savannah's political establishment, presented a Fair Share PILOT Program in 2021 that centered on SCAD paying impact fees to local governments.

More: First City Progress: Group calls on SCAD, city, county to enter payment-in-lieu-of-taxes program

These types of programs are popular in cities such as Boston with large, private universities. At a Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting after November's election, Johnson said he expects SCAD to commit to some type of program that helps the city address byproducts of SCAD's increased footprint in the city.

"My expectation is that they will, they will do it in a way that makes sense to us," Johnson said at the meeting.

Evan Lasseter is the city and county government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at ELasseter@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah City Council storylines