Parking changes that would add about 2,000 meters to Savannah’s urban core will go to Savannah City Council for first reading next week.
The proposed changes are the result of over one year of study, community
engagement and council feedback on the city’s 2025 Parking Matters Study, which surveyed changing parking conditions from Liberty Street to Victory Drive between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and East Broad Street. City leaders have said the intentions of proposed regulations are to balance increase in demand from growth in commercial activity with residents’ concerns about parking close to home.
“Parking (challenges) is a good sign of a vibrant city,” said Savannah Mayor Van Johnson. “It's just a difficult challenge to be able to manage.”
The workshop was council’s third this year on the Parking Matters study, according to City Manager Jay Melder. The 2025 study built on a different one a decade prior that resulted in existing regulations downtown from Liberty Street to the river.
Last year’s study found increased demand in some of Savannah’s highly attended neighborhoods, namely in the Thomas Square Neighborhood and around Forsyth Park. Key changes in the city’s proposal include new metered zones on the park’s east and west sides, and new meters along the entirety of the Bull Street corridor from the park to Victory Drive.
In all, the proposed changes would create new regulations on about 24% of the parking spaces within the study area. That amounts to 2,398 of the roughly 10,000 spaces in the area, meaning the majority of spaces would remain free and unregulated, said the city’s Director of Parking Services Sean Brandon.
"For a lot of people, they are able to freely come and go from their homes and know that there will be a space there,” Brandon said.
The most significant changes would come in the Thomas Square Neighborhood’s retail and entertainment hub south of 37th Street. The proposed ordinance amendment calls for new meters in blocks adjacent to Bull Street from 37th Street to 42nd Street. There are also new time-limited spaces surrounding those metered zones.
The growth in commercial activity in that area of the neighborhood—home to Starland Yard, Two Tides Brewing and Brochu’s Family Tradition—has placed “significant pressure on residential parking availability,” according to a memo from Melder to city council.
“We have seen a significant uptick in demand here,” Brandon said.
The proposal council will consider next week also contains a few changes from recommendations presented to council in March. One primary change was addition of time-limited spaces to the west of Forsyth Park.
The additions were made after residents on the park’s west side were concerned new restrictions on the east would push parkers to the other side, creating a proverbial “dumping area” for commuters in search of free parking, Brandon said.
After that workshop, there were concerns about how new regulations would impact St. Vincents Academy and Congregation Mickve Israel, two downtown institutions whose attendees park within the study area.
The city developed a student parking decal program with St. Vincents priced at $200 per school year, or about $1.74 per school day. Brandon said staff felt the rate was "reasonable" and would be accessible for commuters who need it.
As for CMI, the city will issue non-identifying parking decals handed out by the congregation for Friday and Saturday evening services. The measure was not CMI’s preferred option due to concerns with having parking decals that could associate vehicles with the Jewish congregation, and that attendees who park before receiving the decal would be ticketed in the interim.
Melder said staff will take a “liberal approach” to citation dismissals while the program is being established to help mitigate citation concerns. City staff will also work with the synagogue on design for the decal, the memo states.
“I would describe that there is support for this from the congregation, but this is not their first choice to be clear,” Brandon said.
Evan Lasseter is the City of Savannah and Chatham County government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at ELasseter@savannahnow.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Sweeping parking proposal to be consider by Savannah City Council
