Savannah's Forsyth Park neighbors continue to voice dissatisfaction as master planning process ends

When the Forsyth Park master plan was initially announced in late-2020, many in the community thought it would be a broad look at park maintenance, not an overhaul of the park and its amenities, according to Ryan Madson, president of the Victorian Neighborhood Association.

"We were on board with this kind of more top-level thinking about Forsyth Park, which needs management and cohesive strategy for replacing old live oak (tree) canopy," Madson said. "But they did not come to the public with those parts of the plan. They still have not shown what we think are the most important parts of the plan."

The Trustees' Garden Club and its Friends of Forsyth committee recently submitted a final draft of the master plan in a 299-page report. The proposal differs greatly from earlier drafts presented to the public last year, plans that were met with widespread public outcry, particularly from those who live near the park, such as Madson.

Those 2021 recommendations included overviews of programming and adjusted facilities. For example, one plan showed how one playground would be demolished to make way for picnic tables; in another, a splash pad would be added to the south end of the park next to the basketball courts.

Many of those changes were abandoned in the final draft, although the plan does propose several amenities changes. Yet the more detailed aspects of the final plan include dozens of pages on how to protect the tree canopy and its roots, where events can be held and how storm drainage would be mitigated in the park.

Eleanor Rhangos, co-chair of the Friends of Forsyth Committee, who led planning efforts for three years, said the plan has always been presented as comprehensive.

"Rather than just focusing on the design aspect — which is certainly important and where the community was so engaged from day one — it was more comprehensive to include the tree survey, the first topographic survey, the preservation inventory... it was always meant to be a comprehensive plan," she said.

Soliciting and listening to the community

Decisions about the plans stemmed from the Friends of Forsyth's assembled team of local experts, weekend listening sessions at the Forsyth Farmers' Market, public input sessions and survey responses from more than 5,000 people.

Madson said the VNA should have had a larger role, and their voices weighted more than others, because of their proximity to the park.

"These are very privileged downtown women with connections, historical, generational connections to money and power," Madson said, adding he believed that the master plan started as a "fun project" for the club.

More: Who's behind the Forsyth Park master plan? A look into Savannah's affluent Trustees' Garden Club

The Friends of Forsyth declined providing a roster of members to the Savannah Morning News, but maintained it has remained transparent through the process.

Meb Ryan, co-chair of the Forsyth planning committee, said they were told by the city to take all feedback into consideration equally.

"Forsyth Park is everybody's park, it does not just belong to downtown residents or the neighbors who live right around it," Ryan said. "People come from all over the county from the region to enjoy Forsyth Park for different reasons. So it was really important to the city that we know collect feedback from all over."

The VNA was first approached about the project in 2016, when about 25 stakeholders were invited to a brainstorming session about the plan by the club. Rhangos said their team has a documented, two-page timeline of how often they engaged the VNA as part of the process. 

Madson also felt the survey led many people to consider options for the park that shouldn't have been introduced in the first place, like a pickleball court and the addition of the children's splash pad.

"They've been very disingenuous and misleading and not forthright about many of the mechanics and the project including public participation," Madson said. "And we've been frustrated with each turn."

The Friends of Forsyth Committee sent out numerous emails and offered to attend neighborhood association meetings across the city, according to Ryan. The club met with VNA's four-person executive staff numerous times, she added, but not the entire membership.

"We were asked by several organizations to come and talk about the project and they wanted to learn more and they want to know what was going on," Ryan said, adding they gave presentations to the Ardsley Park and the Downtown Neighborhood Associations.

Madson said the planning process improved once they made their discontent known.

"But to their credit, we appreciate that they had included us in later stages of public participation, and incorporated a lot of our suggestions into the second draft of the master plan," he said.

Ryan said the committee listened to their critics in the early stages but have always been committed to including the entire city, county and region's point of view.

Survey results not representative of community

The discontent from the community after the first drafts was not limited to the VNA. Dozens of comments and criticisms made to the Friends of Forsyth committee" made the community's priorities clear," Ryan said.

The initial survey was a guide for how the master plan would be drafted. It was sent out in the earliest stages of the pubic-facing part of the plan, in early 2021, and saw more than 5,000 responses.

Jane Ogle was paid a visit by the Friends of Forsyth committee last year when they asked her business, Custom Fit Center on West Park Avenue, to participate in the survey. Ogle said the gym, which also hosts classes in Forsyth Park, promoted the surveys online and in-person to try and get more participation in the process.

She attended the public listening sessions held through summer and fall 2021 and believes the planning process was fair, and community-minded.

"They were anxious to get as much participation as possible and to incorporate, as much as they could, the suggestions that survey respondents gave," Ogle said.

The respondents overwhelmingly called for more bathrooms, the protection of the tree canopy, more family events and to address the need for bike lanes, according to the master plan.

But the answers are not wholly reflective of Savannah as a community.

White people accounted for 67% of the responses, according to the master plan. White people represent 55% of the city's population, according to the 2020 Census. And, most of the respondents live in zip code 31401, which includes Forsyth Park. The area is the wealthiest zip code in the city where population has been declining due to the rise of student and rental properties and short-term vacation rentals.

Rhangos said the representative gap in their responses was a concern from the very beginning. When they went to Savannah City Council in December 2020 with initial survey results, their directive was clear: get more input from communities of color.

"We extended the first phase of community engagement by three months, so that we could expand the voices and the truth is, it's challenging," Rhangos said.

The club distributed paper versions of the surveys, met with city task forces, faith leaders, fraternity leaders at Savannah State University, civic organizations and youth football coaches to garner a wider range of feedback.

"We feel very comfortable that we've done everything we could," Ryan affirmed.

Safety a top concern

Victorian District resident and local travel writer Erin Clarkson took the survey last year and marked tree protection, adding restrooms and safety.

"One of my biggest complaints with the current plan is that they plan to add more cameras to the park," Clarkson, who lives just south of the park, said. "Cameras do not make the park safer."

Safety was the No. 2 issue identified by the community in surveys, with more than 900 people saying enhanced lighting and emergency services were needed.

She added that while cameras help in the solving of crimes, police foot patrols are really needed to ensure park goers are safe.

She referenced an October homicide where 33-year-old Desmond Warren was shot to death just after sundown in Forsyth Park. The incident was caught on camera.

"You know what happened? Those two suspects walked right out of the park," she said.

The master plan recommends $122,000 be reserved for security enhancements, with more than $3 million set aside for lighting. Rhangos clarified that the need to replace several broken security cameras was a directive from the City of Savannah. Future plans include the possibility of hiring a park ranger, a law enforcement officer whose sole patrol area would be the park.

Plans do call for the installation of emergency call boxes, which would aid park goers should they need to call 911.

"Just the presence of someone official in the park really helps increase people's perception and the reality of safety," Rhangos said. "So it was something that came up and it was driven by the community."

Zoe covers growth and how it impacts communities in the Savannah area. Find her at znicholson@gannett.com, @zoenicholson_ on Twitter, and @zoenicholsonreporter on Instagram. 

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Forsyth Park neighbors voice concerns over master planning process