On the heels of a recent discussion in the Savannah City Council about short-term transient rental properties, the Chatham County – Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission Tuesday reached a decision that speaks to some of the concerns about zoning and short-term rentals.

With the utmost of care, the MPC heard a final proposal for the use of a historic Victorian home and property at 920 East Victory Drive. The property, owned by Sue Gouse, consists of over 21,000 square-feet of land, with a two-and-a-half story; 8,400 square feet home built in 1912, along with an 1,150 square-feet carriage house and a 710 square-feet garage. The property underwent major interior renovation in 2001, according to information found on city-data.com.

The stately Victorian mansion and accompanying structures have been on the market for nearly 1,000 days, according to Zillow.com, and has seen a price drop from its original $1.950 million in September of 2010 to its drastically-reduced current price of $1.195 million; a drop from $232 per square foot to $142 per square foot.

So, why hasn’t this grand old property sold? The answer is zoning. Sitting adjacent to a large RIP-zoned immediately to its east, this property and the contiguous lots to the west are zoned R-6. In an RIP zone, just about anything goes and it does in that area, with single and multifamily rental properties, charitable and religious organizations, short-term / vacation rentals and businesses. However, in R-6, it’s single-family, owner occupied only.

Maybe in 1912 and the several decades following, such a property would be very desirable for a single family estate, but today, it is, for all intents and purposes, impractical; which explains why the house won’t sell in today’s market.

Represented by attorney Harold Yellin of HunterMaclean, Gouse has requested some kind of zoning relief from the City so the house can become more marketable. “Many potential buyers asked if it can be turned into a bed & breakfast,” said Yellin. “Under the current zoning, the answer is no.”

It had been suggested at a previous MPC meeting that the property be rezoned RIP so that a B&B could be operated there, making the property much more marketable. However, concerns about it becoming a short-term transient rental property or some other undesirable use that would diminish the neighborhood’s clean residential image caused the rezoning request to be put on hold until other options could be explored.

Yellin, on behalf of his client Tuesday, requested a rezoning of the property to RIP with some significant restrictions. The first restriction would be that the property, as a B&B, must always be owner–occupied. The owner must make his or her principal and permanent residence there.

The second restriction Yellin proposed was that the B&B would be limited to five bedrooms on the property, even though the home and carriage house contain more than five bedrooms. These five bedrooms would be in addition to the owner’s residence.

The third restriction is that the current and all future property owners maintain and develop the property according to the strict R-6 rules for appearance and upkeep, thus ensuring the property will continue to preserve the single-family home neighborhood image.

Restriction four said there would be no parking lot or parking field on the property. Off-street parking adequate to accommodate five vehicles was available on the property’s driveway.

Finally, a fifth restriction guaranteed that the property would remain site-plan specific, meaning that no deviation from or stipulations to the new approved site-plan zoning could occur without formal approval from the MPC and City Council.

Yellin said he took some of these ideas from a previous ruling concerning similar cases around Thomas Square.

The MPC staff recommended approval of Yellin’s proposal and the motion passed on a 8-3 vote. The matter must now go before City Council for final approval.

New Grocery Store and Gas Station on Savannah’s South Side

In other MPC business, after a very lengthy discussion of a rather complex general development plan the Commission approved a site plan that included 5 acres for a new grocery store, just under an acre for a new gas station and 10.37 additional acres for future development on the east side of the intersection of Abercorn St. and Wilshire Blvd. on Savannah’s south side. The grocery store and future development property would be on the north side of Wilshire, while the 12- pump filling station – operated by a cashier in a kiosk – would be on the southeast corner of the intersection. The owners/operators of neither the grocery store nor the gas station were identified during the discussion.

The property for future development is currently occupied by 31 individual properties, 30 of which are under contract.

The developers, Polestar Development LLC, represented by attorney Rob Brannen, requested a few, rather minor variance to the current zoning ordinances. The ordinance requires five parking spaces for every 1,000 square feet of leasable space in the pertaining structure – in this case, the grocery store. Brannen, who also represents the homeowners who are selling their properties to Polestar for this project, requested that the number of spaces per thousand square feet be reduced to four. He argued that five would create a development hardship and that other grocery stores, such as the Kroger on Gwinnett St. in downtown Savannah, were larger buildings with fewer spaces and are never totally full.

Brannen also requested that the MPC allow vehicles to drive on what would be a paved buffer zone parallel to Wilshire Blvd. Current zoning restricts driving on a section of property designated as a buffer zone, but Branner said it was necessary for gasoline tanker trucks to maneuver within the confines of the gas station property to refill underground tanks.

The MPC eventually approved the new site plan with these requests by an 11-0 margin. This new master plan must now go before the Mayor and City Council for final approval.