July 1, 2024
In this newsletter, we focus on the City's resolution to redevelop the Savannah Civic Center site and renovate the Johnny Mercer Theatre. The City's proposal stands in opposition to its obligation to fully restore the Oglethorpe Plan across the entirety of the Civic Center site. (Click for WTOC News segment.)
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Savannah City Council's Resolution on the Civic Center Falls Short of a Full Restoration of the Oglethorpe Plan and Needs To Be Reconsidered
On Thursday, June 27, 2024, the City Council of Savannah passed a resolution to direct Savannah’s City Manager and staff to proceed with the path of demolishing of the Civic Center Arena, renovating the Johnny Mercer Theatre, ballroom, and meeting rooms, and restoring as much of the Oglethorpe Plan as they deem feasible.
This outcome was not consistent with the position supported by the Oglethorpe Plan Coalition, Inc. (OPC). We had advocated for a new facility to be built on a city-owned property one block away, which would have allowed for the full restoration of the Oglethorpe Plan across the entire site, including the theater site. The full restoration of the plan is what we citizens are entitled to under Section 7.8.10 of the City of Savannah Zoning Ordinance, which explicitly requires new development to reconstruct the plan.
The City Council's resolution seemed like a rushed effort to suppress the growing support for building a new theater on a new location. No public input was permitted at the voting meeting, and the Council misunderstood the underlying facts, such as the availability of City-owned land where a theater could be constructed. Correcting this misunderstanding should become a priority.
Good government should aim to build consensus, finding solutions that benefit as many constituents as possible. These constituents include a multitude of civic interests, including all members of the public - not only the entertainment lobby but also, for example, the citizens who understand our duty to preserve the City's iconic and unique historic assets.
A new facility with a theater could satisfy the needs of the entertainment industry into the next century and do so better than a renovated Mercer Theatre, which will reopen with a lifespan of less than 50-years. Further, new construction tends to cost less than renovation. Private donors may think twice about contributing towards a short-lived and costly renovation.
Renovation projects rarely are completed on time or within budget, and this one will require shutting down the Mercer, meeting spaces, and ballroom for an unknown period of time. Constructing a new theater on a different site would allow the existing theater to provide a venue for events during the construction period of possibly several years.
The OPC had pointed out to the City and leaders in the entertainment industry that the City owns multiple sites for a new theater, including the large parking lot mentioned above, located one block away at 301 MLK Boulevard. This site is next to the Visitors Center, and it is large enough for a theater up to twice the size of the current one. MLK Boulevard is now the cultural corridor of Savannah, with over half a dozen cultural institutions, including the Civil Rights Museum, the Savannah History Museum, and the Ships of the Sea Museum.
In addition, 301 MLK Boulevard is in the historic district but is not in what is designated as the Oglethorpe Plan area. Building a new theater at this location therefore allows for the restoration of the Oglethorpe Plan. Thus, this solution helps to build consensus by acknowledging our duty as stewards of this internationally recognized treasure. This position has drawn broad support, including signatories to a Change.org petition supporting a new theater at a new site and the full restoration of the plan.
Placing a new theater on the edge of the historic district would also allow the traffic and parking demands generated by the facility to be intercepted before entering and flooding our pedestrian oriented area. Rather than wasting a portion of the valuable Oglethorpe Plan area on parking, a new parking facility could be constructed down the slope to the west of 301 MLK.
Although the OPC supported such a consensus building approach, the City leaders missed an opportunity to unite their constituents, and instead chose a direction that they knew and announced would not be satisfactory to many.
Throughout the process, the City seemed to unduly focus on the entertainment industry over all other interests, calling the industry the "arts community." The term 'art," however, has always included first and foremost the visual arts of painting, sculpture and architecture, which in turn includes civic planning. The Oglethorpe Plan with its beautiful squares draws millions of visitors from around the world, but it is also recognized in the world of art history as an outstanding example of civic planning inspired by the Roman architect Vitruvius, whom Oglethorpe himself had studied and quoted in his letters to the Trustees of the colony. Refusal to restore the entire plan in the name of promoting "art" doesn't make sense when we consider that one of our oldest and most famous works of art is the Oglethorpe Plan.
Leaders should protect the assets that make Savannah great. In 1966, the city gained the recognition as a National Historic Landmark, largely because of the Oglethorpe Plan. Just two years later, however, the City in an act of shortsightedness destroyed a large portion of the plan to build the Civic Center. This senseless act of destruction was the largest single loss to the integrity of the district in Savannah's history.
In just nine years we the City of Savannah, and the Oglethorpe Plan, will be 300 years old. The City Council, however, has forgone a once-in-a-century opportunity to celebrate our birthday with a new theater on MLK and a full restoration of the Oglethorpe Plan. We at the OPC hope that the City soon realizes the flaws in its resolution and moves in a direction that addresses the needs of the entire community and our duty to restore our historic assets.
Invite Us to Your Event for a Discussion of Hot Topics in the District
The OPC would be glad to attend to your event, be it a neighborhood association or other community group, to share our concerns and hear your views about the state of the historic district. Please reach out to us at opc.preservation@gmail.com.
Monthly Oglethorpe Plan Coalition (OPC) Volunteers Meeting
The OPC is a volunteer group, and we want you! Please contact us at opc.preservation@gmail.com if you would like to get involved. We will have our next meeting in August. Please contact us at the above email with your contact information if you are interested in attending. Capacity is limited.