Savannah mayor says 'Waters Avenue is back' after completion of streetscape project. Is it?

This is the City Talk column by Bill Dawers, a longtime contributor to the Savannah Morning News.

The City of Savannah recently completed a $6.6 million streetscape project on Waters Avenue from Victory Drive to Wheaton Street.

Many Savannahians are cynical about such projects, especially in light of the controversies surrounding Broughton Street, but cities sometimes need to make major investments in infrastructure.

Previous reporting: Broughton Street construction to be halted, barricades removed to promote holiday shopping

That 1.4-mile stretch of Waters now has accessible sidewalks, safer crosswalks, better lighting and new landscaping that will encourage private investment, add value to adjacent properties and, in theory, improve quality of life for eastside residents.

At the recent ribbon cutting, Mayor Van Johnson declared that “Waters Avenue is back.” He noted the historical importance of the corridor as a social and economic hub. He emphasized that the city was investing in projects beyond downtown.

District 2 Alderman Detric Leggett, who has a long personal history along Waters Avenue, enthusiastically praised the project. Both Leggett and city manager Jay Melder painted a bright future for small business investment.

Manny Dominguez, the city’s director of economic development, praised the vision of neighborhood residents and detailed specific initiatives to support private development. He listed a variety of relatively new businesses and noted the success of the affordable Ramona Riley Lofts in the former school along Henry Street.

Despite some obvious gains, Waters Avenue is still dotted with vacant lots and underutilized properties that will be difficult to rehabilitate given current ordinances and development standards.

Clinton Edminster, who is poised to open Waters Café at 2317 Waters Ave., told me last week that various requirements prevented him from taking full advantage of enterprise zone incentives or of city backing for a loan from the Small Business Assistance Corporation. While he did receive a parking variance as he expected, he noted that parking requirements could deter investors who can’t be certain that their projects will be viable.

Brad Baugh, who is looking for commercial tenants for a building now being renovated at 2409 Waters Ave. told me that city officials have been working hard on redevelopment in the corridor, but he thinks that parking variances and perhaps other zoning requests could be given some degree of pre-approval.

Clearly, the city can also do a better job with communications about the corridor.  As I write this column, the city’s webpage titled “Waters Avenue Revitalization” hasn’t been updated for eight years or more.

And these developments and complications take place against a backdrop of rapid demographic change that many observers would describe as gentrification.

Waters Avenue north of Victory Drive cuts through two U.S. Census tracts that lost about 10% of their total population from 2010 to 2020. Those tracts are still majority Black, but they lost more than 1,300 Black residents during the decade, while the white population grew by more than 600.

It seems likely that those trends, which are also reflected in Census data for other neighborhoods in the greater downtown area, have continued since 2020.

City officials, residents and the business community have been working together for many years to get Waters Avenue to this point, but much work remains if the corridor is going to return to its historic vibrancy.

Bill Dawers can be reached via @billdawers on Twitter and CityTalkSavannah@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah invested in Waters Avenue streetscape improvements sidewalks