Bloomingdale residents get first look at proposed mixed-use development (Savannah: low income, apartments)

[Airforceguy]

Looks like major growth could be coming to Bloomingdale...

Hundreds of apartments, dozens of houses could be on their way to small community

A small group of residents huddled around some exhibits at Bloomingdale City Hall this week to get their first look at a proposed new development  which, if approved, would bring hundreds of apartments and a dozen more houses to their small community.

The new Meadows of Bloomingdale development has been proposed by Savannah-based Beacon Builders for an area less than a mile from the meeting room in which they stood, just off U.S. 80 between Maple Street and a small dead end road called Douglas Court.

Answering questions from the public Tuesday, Jay Maupin of Savannah’s Maupin Engineering said everyone who lives within 200 feet of the proposed development was invited to the meeting to hear about what is planned first.

Next month, the city planning and zoning board and the City Council will take up a request to rezone 44 acres of land from a residential agricultural designation to a planned unit development.

“This is the first baby step — getting the zoning approved,” Maupin said.

If the Bloomingdale City Council signs off on the zoning change, it will still be required to review and accept plans for the development, which could ultimately include hundreds of apartment units, 15 single-family residences and some commercial space fronting U.S. 80.

The plans that were shown to the public this week were for multiple two-story apartment buildings that would house 320 apartments. Another 15 single-family residences would be extended past the current dead end of Douglas Court around a newly developed cul de sac.

If the commercial development unfolds as plans, Maupin told those gathered around his exhibits Tuesday that an existing barbershop business on U.S. 80 would have to be torn down to make way for the new commercial space.

Ultimately, he added, toward the end of the development’s construction, plans are in place to install a new traffic signal at the intersection of U.S. 80 and Maple Street.

Among those present to examine the plans, the reaction was mixed. Some Douglas Court residents said a new development would only exacerbate flooding issues on the street, and new construction could cause problems with displaced wildlife, mainly snakes, making their way into the neighborhood.

Bloomingdale residents get first look at proposed mixed-use development | SavannahNow

[WanderingImport]

It was only a matter of time before spillover growth from Pooler happened in Bloomingdale. Honestly, I'm surprised it took this long..

[SavannahLife]

Pooler is metastasizing.

[gentlearts]

Originally Posted by SavannahLife

Pooler is metastasizing.

Ouch!

[gentlearts]

I've been thinking for awhile, that it would be smart to flip some houses in Bloomingdale. It is a quiet little burb, with very modest homes, and it is inevitable that Pooler dwellers will spread that way.

[SavannahLife]

Indeed. Takes $ to make $! Sounds like it'd work. If the rest of the county grows it does seem mixed use will be a good model to follow..Versus standard tracts of houses connected by wide roads to places of work a ways away like downtown. The usual answer to all the tragic deaths on I-16, is to just widen I-16 without thinking about lessening traffic in the first place, with expanded mass transit and smarter planning. If there are more jobs close to where people live, i.e. they work and live in the same area because it is mixed use, that will be more sustainable, save money, and save lives from a growing and increasingly clogged highway.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by SavannahLife

Indeed. Takes $ to make $! Sounds like it'd work. If the rest of the county grows it does seem mixed use will be a good model to follow..Versus standard tracts of houses connected by wide roads to places of work a ways away like downtown. The usual answer to all the tragic deaths on I-16, is to just widen I-16 without thinking about lessening traffic in the first place, with expanded mass transit and smarter planning. If there are more jobs close to where people live, i.e. they work and live in the same area because it is mixed use, that will be more sustainable, save money, and save lives from a growing and increasingly clogged highway.

Hate to tell you ... but the final phase of Jimmy Deloach Parkway is about to cut right through the heart of Bloomingdale, extending the 4-lane "truck route" over US 80 and through 2 miles of pine woods, where it will connect with I-16 at the Bloomingdale Road / 152 Exit.

This will remove much of the heavy port traffic from I-95, I-16 and the surface roads around Port Wentworth and Garden City. It will also make Bloomingdale and even South Effingham more accessible to commuters, and spur commercial development at Exit 152 (which is just a narrow country road now).

And in case you're wondering ... Chatham County has been working on this since the 1980s, when Bloomingdale annexed all the land out to I-16 in anticipation. So yeah ... everybody knew this was coming, and my guess is quite a few longtime land owners out there plan to cash in and get rich.

[Airforceguy]

The development was rejected...

The Bloomingdale Planning Commission voted 5-1-1 on Tuesday to recommend denial of the request from Savannah-based Beacon Builders to rezone more than 44 acres of land on the north side of U.S. 80 from an agricultural residential zoning to a planned unit development. Planning Commissioner Betty Burke abstained from the vote. Planning Commissioner Susan Rogers voted against the recommended denial.

The city council will take up its own hearing of the request next week.

Beacon Builders has proposed construction of 320 apartment units for the Meadows of Bloomingdale project, which would be spread across multiple two-story buildings. In addition, the development calls for construction of 15 single-family residences on an extension of the existing dead-end street, Douglas Court. The proposal also includes new commercial space to front the development on U.S. 80.

Speaking on behalf of the applicant Tuesday, Jay Maupin of Savannah-based Maupin Engineering said some changes had been made to the proposal since the planning commission signed off on a sketch plan for the project at its last meeting.

Developers took into consideration comments made by residents at an open house on the project last month, Maupin said, and revised the plan to include, most notably, an additional vegetative buffer.

But the changes weren’t enough to satisfy the neighbors of the project. Of those who spoke during the public hearing for the rezone Tuesday, all expressed opposition. Their concerns ran the gamut, from the property’s future maintenance, to its density, the creation of additional traffic and potential strain on local infrastructure.

“I’m not for development in Bloomingdale, and making it a big metropolis like Pooler,” said Vince Drescher of Drescher Road. “We’re not a rich city by no means. ... But we definitely don’t want a community that’s low income — a town of renters.”

Douglas Court resident Karyl Taulbee told the planning commission she had fears about the impact of construction vehicles on her street and of the impact a dense development would have on the entire town. Such a project could overcrowd the local schools, misplace wildlife, drag down property values and add more traffic to U.S. 80, Taulbee suggested.

“I just don’t want it either,” she said.

After hearing similar concerns from several neighboring residents — some of them multiple times — Planning Commissioner Robert Wellmaker motioned to deny the rezone request “based on public input.” The planning commission was not required to consider the planned unit development plot plan for the site, because it needed the rezone to move forward.

In other business, the Bloomingdale Planning Commission:

• Voted to recommend approval of a conceptual site plan for a 1.4 million-square-foot distribution facility on SH Morgan Parkway. Sandra Reeves of Duke Realty said the building would be constructed on 90 acres on the west side of the Prologis Morgan Business Center with truck parking on nearly every side of the facility. The project will abide by the city’s flood plain and stormwater ordinance, she said, but it will require a landscape variance. City Administrator Charles Akridge said the facility would be the biggest building in Bloomingdale.

• Voted to recommend approval of a site plan for Gateway Community Church on Pine Barren Road. C.J. Chance of Hussey Gay Bell said the facility would include 200 parking spaces, and would be built to hold up to 800 congregants.

Bloomingdale planners turn down proposal for apartments off U.S. 80 | SavannahNow

[SavannahLife]

Great news! If the residents don't want it, then the government ought to listen. I can understand I enjoy living in a leafy exurb area ie western county area. Glad to see people come out and say they like their town the way it is with no apologies. Politicians and government actually listening to constituents that is kind of impressive in this day and age.

[gentlearts]

Pooler council is very good about that too. If residents are opposed to something, their wishes usually prevail.
I saw it first hand when a condo builder wanted to make a road connection to an older neighborhood, making it a cut through to Pooler Parkway. When it involves a zoning change, they can refuse it. Once land is zoned, there is very little they can do.