The City of Port Wentworth has a lot of projects bubbling under the surface that they hope residents will soon notice. One of these projects is a proposed development with Habitat for Humanity to bring up to 95 homes to the downtown area, a first step in revitalizing the area, and the first development there in 50 years.
A town hall meeting was recently held to get residents' feedback for the development. The verdict: residents were not pleased. Many residents said they weren't properly notified of the proposed development or the town hall meeting and the infrastructure can't support the flood of families that would come with it.
The meeting was the first in a series for this development. At the next Planning and Zoning Board meeting on Feb. 12, the board will hear a zoning map amendment application for the development area and recommend it for approval or denial by the city council. Also at 7 p.m. on Feb. 15, the city will having a public hearing related to this request during its regularly scheduled city council meeting. Council will vote on March 21.
If the zoning map amendment is approved, that does not necessarily mean that the development will happen. It just means that the area will be rezoned. A development agreement has not yet been drawn up and accepted, , according to City Manager Steve Davis.
Davis said that the city was working on a slew of infrastructure projects and improvements that have been in progress since they started the process about 23 months ago.
"This is a town that was founded in 1957, but it's been here since the 1700s," Davis said. "You've got a paper mill, a sugar refinery and the Port Authority right in our backyard. The infrastructure, the roads, the water and sewer lines all need to be addressed."
One of the first infrastructure issues that had been addressed was getting one of three wells functioning and operational again, which happened in December and was a $150,000 project. The second one is in the process of being prepared, and the third one is going back through the permitting process.
Among other water and sewer projects is upgrading the sewer main from an 8-inch main to a 12-inch main to connect it back to the wastewater treatment plant, which they are looking to expand.
Davis said they've replaced many roads, including Antrim Road and when they replaced the road, they found water and sewer lines running down the middle of the street that needed to be replaced and did that. They have also discovered old terracotta pipes that need to be replaced but will take millions of dollars to do so.
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Other projects
Other projects the city is focusing on include recreation and improving traffic. Davis said the biggest complaint that the community has is traffic, but with major interstates and highways going through it there's little the city can do.
However, widening Highway 21 has been upgraded to a tier one project with the state, according to Davis. Funding has not been allocated and there's no timeline yet, but in the meantime, the Chatham Area Transit will be extending its route to the city in five weeks on March 1. The route has been renamed to route five since it was previously reported but will provide a new option to get cars off of the road.
Davis also mentioned the new fire station headquarters that will be at the entrance of the planned park at Meinhard and Highway 30. The headquarters will be completed in March 2025, while the first phase of the parks build out will be complete in July 2025, which will include parking, the soccer and football fields, the concession, splash park and the Ghost Pirates Training Facility.
Another project the city is working on to compliment the park is a way to connect all of the major neighborhoods to a trail pathway, which will hopefully eventually take more cars off the road.
Other plans for the future include redoing the comprehensive plan and rolling out their own fiber optic system to provide Wi-Fi to the entire city, including the downtown area. The city has also hired Kimley-Horn, planning and design consulting firm to help them establish a strategy to revitalize downtown, which they hope to have complered by the summer.
Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for Chatham County municipalities for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com
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