After approving rezoning land for gas stations in the last few months, Port Wentworth City Council considered and approved two rezoning moratoriums, including one that would halt the rezoning of any property to establish gas stations.
Councilmember At-Large Artlise Alston-Cone initiated the moratoriums on rezonings for service stations and residential areas and districts due to the amount of service stations in the city, which now numbers 17.
"That's more restaurants than we have in our city," Alston-Cone said. "I've been doing a lot of traveling in communities our size and I haven't seen that many fuel stations, so I thought we needed to give our city a chance to grow and bring a variety of commercial businesses."
During the presentation of the resolutions, City Manager Steve Davis said the moratoriums, which will last for six months, will allow for the city to catch up and take stock of the different negotiations and obligations the city has since the unfortunate passing of the Assistant City Manager Jason Stewart, who handled major developments.
"We already have negotiations that are about to begin with the City of Savannah for water, so I think it's time for us to reflect," Davis said. "We already have the approval of over 3,000 [housing] units that are not permitted to date yet, but they're already zoned. So we've got plenty of things in the pipeline, and this gives us time to work on our transportation and rail plan."
He also mentioned that it will allow them to work on the zoning ordinance and future land use map. As of February, land zoned R-1, or single-family residential covers the majority of Port Wentworth at 35%, or 3,330 acres. Second is industrial at 24% or 2,275.07 acres, and third is 1,241 acres for Planned Unit Developments.
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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