Former church site in Pooler gets OK for redevelopment into retail space, community center
The land where the now-closed Christ Presbyterian Church currently sits on Quacco Road may soon be 23,000 sq. ft. of retail/commercial space and a 10,000 sq. ft. community event center, along with some outdoor and parking space.
Pooler One Investments, LLC, owned by Yash Desai, originally submitted a planned urban development (PUD) application to rezone the property for multifamily, commercial and retail use. After months of back-and-forth between officials, developers and residents in the Savannah Quarters subdivision, Pooler City Council passed the rezoning, 3-2, leaving some residents wary.
More: Property Transfers: Former church property near Savannah Quarters sells for $2.425 million
More: Christ Presbyterian grows with Pooler
According to the petitioner, the following is the preliminary concept plan for the site:
Retail/Commercial
Three buildings along Spanton Crescent
23,500 sq. ft. of retail/commercial (restaurants/stores)
Outdoor space on building ends
Community Event Center
10,000 sq. ft. space in former church building
Security to be provided by petitioner at community center events
Event center schedule will be provided to Pooler Fire Department to allow for coordination
Parking
Surface parking surrounding building
356 spaces provided
9 golf cart spaces
Several residents came up to speak during public input of a recent city council meeting, citing the timing of the project and an increase in traffic as a major concern of the potential development. When the plan was presented to Pooler Planning and Zoning in March, the board recommended disapproval.
Residents also had the chance to voice their concerns at a community meeting last month with the developer, which saw an attendance of around 100 people.
“I can only imagine the amount of traffic that will come and make it even worse,” said Savannah Quarters resident James Jones. “I would hope that we would make sure we would finish what we’re doing on Quacco Road and Pooler Parkway first.”
Pooler officials have discussed the widening of Quacco Road for years, but the project is expected to break ground in the next 6-9 months. Acknowledging that, the developer proposed that developing the project be phased out.
“There’s pretty substantial lead time with any development like this,” said John Northup, who represented Pooler One Investments. “It’s probably going to take probably 18 months before anything that Desai wants to do will happen. Let’s have the initial three buildings that are up closer to Spanton Crescent, those would be retail commercial, and then have the rest of the development sit as is and not be developed until Quacco Road is widened.”
Maria Huntoon, who lives just inside the Spanton Crescent gate, said that while she appreciates the changes the developers made after resident feedback, it’s still going to impact them greatly.
“This is going to be a football field from my house,” Huntoon said. “We people at Savannah Quarters spend a lot of money to live where we live, and we bought our house because we wanted a nice, quiet backyard and we didn’t want to deal with a lot of traffic. The traffic and noise level is going to impact us greatly greatly, and once they widen Quacco Road that’s going to push everything that much close to our gate.”
Some residents also spoke in regard to the developer purchasing the property knowing it was phase 8, and that it should remain that way. Trish Brown, a resident who doesn’t live in Savannah Quarters, said that if the developer was displeased with the zoning, he should try to negotiate and sell it so there could potentially be a high school or K-8 facility there instead.
The property was zoned as Phase 8, which allows for church and accessory uses, private school and daycare, private outdoor recreation and temporary construction office/storage trailer.
Councilmembers Wesley Bashlor, Michae’l Carpenter and Mayor Pro Tem Aaron Higgins all voted in favor of the development, with Carpenter acknowledging resident concerns as someone who lives there and gave a lengthy statement.
"As we stand at the crossroads today to embrace growth and progress, to explore new possibilities for our city’s future, I understand your concerns because I have the same concerns,” Carpenter said. “Yes, there will be challenges and adjustments but let us not allow fear to guide our decisions. Let us instead focus on long-term growth and prosperity of our city. So, we might see short-term issues right now, but the long-term benefits that could possibly come out of having an event center outweigh that.”
Councilmembers Tom Hutcherson and John Wilcher voted against the development, and Councilmember Shannon Valim was not present.
Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for Chatham County municipalities for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Pooler City Council OKs rezoning for development in Savannah Quarters
