Chatham Dems

This morning, I received the following copy of an email from Marianne Heimes to the County Commission:

On the St. Patrick’s Day weekend, from Friday including Friday night until Sunday, work was feverishly done to strip Bobby Chu’s lot at the corner of Penn Waller and Johnny Mercer Boulevard of every vestige of anything green that had the nerve to grow there. Including the 25′-40′ foot buffer mentioned below.

On April 19, 2005, the MPC passed his rezoning from R-2-A to Commercial Office WITH THE VARIANCE that “while a 50′ wide buffer is required in development adjacent to a residential use, this would not allow sufficient area to construct a nonresidential building on the property. A 15 foot wide drainage and utility easement is located on the residential property to the north. This in effect creates a 40 foot wide buffer area for that property.” So he was given a variance but apparently chose to disregard the ruling.

The thing is, this whole thing was a huge stretch. From an MPC member at that time “the justification for the rezoning is a STRETCH at the least! let’s change it to allow office, but the property isn’t big enough to meet the requirements for office.”

On page 4 of the MPC findings, #11, “A bank….The proposed site plan indicates that a driveway connecting the two properties is proposed. This will improve the access to both properties.” That is the only access mentioned (except #2,page 3, “The property can be accessed from Johnny Mercer Boulevard which is classified as a major arterial street.”) so a curbcut (only) is presumed. At that meeting there was NO discussion of a decel lane.

Now we read in a small box in the SMN (page 1 of Coastal) that “Landco Landscaping of Savannah plans to have three flagmen at the intersection of Penn Waller Road and Johnny Mercer Boulevard from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday to control traffic as crews take down trees on the west side of Johnny Mercer. The trees are being felled to make way for a deceleration lane to be installed for a new office building.”

Upon examination the only trees I could find that might be felled are huge old oaks that are part of our precious tree canopy along the east end of Johnny Mercer Boulevard. Much discussion has been held on the need to protect that canopy.

I AM URGENTLY REQUESTING THAT YOU PUT A STOP ORDER ON THIS TREE CUTTING OF THE CANOPY IN LIEU OF THE FACT THAT THE BUFFER WAS ILLEGALLY BREACHED. The buffer cannot be replaced in a timely fashion but the felling of the legacy oaks that we cherish can be saved.

Please advise that you recognize that a mistake has been made. Thank you.

I followed up with an email saying:

I should like to second Marianne Heimes’s request that you put a stop order on this tree cutting.

The only trees remaining at the intersection of Johnny Mercer and Penn Waller are large old oaks that are part of the tree canopy along Johnny Mercer.

I was at the MPC meeting when the zoning of this parcel was discussed and I was personally assured that developing this property would not involve cutting down those very trees.

If any tree cutting is attempted at this intersection tomorrow, there will be a citizen demonstration that attempts to stop it. I trust you will send police to control the traffic and the crowds.

Tags:   illegal tree-cutting · Wednesday protest · Wilmington Island4 Comments