Savannah council approves new GPS strategic plan

In the true spirit of the people’s plan, Savannah’s new strategic plan was approved unanimously by City Council June 26 — with additional edits, courtesy of very recent resident comments.

Savannah GPS, which has been in the works since shortly after the current city council began its tenure in 2024, was crafted primarily through the use of community feedback according to city officials. It was also the main presentation at the Savannah at Night town hall on June 25. The strategy covers six goals:

• Increase public safety and our collective sense of security
• Invest in equitable community development and resiliency
• Expand economic access, opportunity and vitality for all
• Develop world class environment and infrastructure
• Improve quality of life by raising municipal service standards
• Always be a high-performing government

“I think it’s really good work, good quality work. A lot of hours went into this and more importantly, a lot of love and care went into this,” Johnson said about the plan. “You don’t put time into something like this if you don’t care about the work. Our team really, really cared about the work, and really wanted to get it right. And I think that they have.”

Savannah GPS will replace the 2017 city strategic plan, Savannah Forward

Although it was created by a former mayor and city council, the plan covers the same topics. City Manager Jay Melder said the new plan was designed with longevity in mind and ideally it would last the “next 300 years.”

“We really wanted to build it with resiliency in mind, and to know, even if somebody rebrands it to say ‘Okay, it’s not gonna be Savannah GPS it’s gonna be Savannah something else,’ that we’ve got a culture of data-driven decision making and performance based outcome approach, that anybody who comes in is going to see that as a value,” Melder told The Current. 

The current council had a two-day meeting in March 2024 that resulted in 166 priority items. Those were later refined to six goals and eight organizational values designed to be a “world map or guiding document” for the city, said Josh Peacock, a city public information officer.

Gathering community feedback

Both city council and Melder wanted community input, and Melder’s office released a community survey available to residents from February 2025 to April 2025.

City council members also held a number of community meetings that attracted  nearly 300 attendees and more than 1,500 comments.

The city manager’s survey had 11 questions and had 1,229 responses about affordable housing, public safety, homelessness and economic development. The results were used to help shape the plans goals and help outline future initiatives.

When asked what they believed to be the most pressing issue facing Savannah, 352 respondents indicated crime and safety, 266 respondents said affordable housing, 177 said homelessness and 128 said infrastructure.

The question was open-ended, which allowed respondents to give feedback using their own words, according to Peacock. The responses were then reviewed and analyzed based on recurring keywords and common themes.

Outside of the highest categories, other concerns included general economic hardship, transportation and the impact of tourism.

Economic concerns

Residents overwhelmingly indicated that a strong economy was crucial for the city’s wellbeing, and emphasized supporting small businesses and diversifying the economy by attracting non-tourism industries such as technology, healthcare and the arts.

Public safety

Survey respondents indicated that they often felt safe in their own neighborhoods, but less safe in other parts of Savannah. Most of the concerns focused on perceived high levels of crime and gun violence, but some respondents voiced concern about a perceived lack of accountability for criminal activity.

Survey respondents indicated some long-term solutions by addressing underlying causes of crime such as poverty, drug addiction and unemployment, but also called for more immediate steps such as adding more street lights in public areas and improving crime prosecution.

Homelessness

The fifth question on the survey focused on homelessness, and nearly 700 respondents had a negative view of the city’s response to the issue. Some respondents said they were concerned about a lack of sufficient emergency housing beds and limited options for transitional housing and affordable housing in the city.

Many of the proposed solutions by survey respondents were both short and long-term — increasing the number of beds at emergency shelters, developing long-term housing solutions and addressing underlying issues with mental health services and substance abuse treatments.

Housing

Question seven of the survey focused on affordable housing in the city and the  increasing cost of living. One particular worry among respondents was the displacement of long-term city residents unable to remain in their homes due to rising costs. Respondents also shared concerns about the increasing number of short-term rentals, which they believe to be contributing to the rising rental costs and a sign that the city prioritizes tourism over residential needs.

The survey respondents’ primary recommendation is to increase the overall housing supply through more affordable housing and more diverse housing types — tiny homes, accessory dwelling units, duplexes and triplexes.

Community discussions

During community sessions city officials and elected leaders heard residents’ views on the key priority areas in the draft strategic plan: livable environment and infrastructure, quality of life, community development and resiliency, high-performing government, public safety and economic access, opportunity and vitality.

Those who attended the meetings indicated that a high-performing government was their highest priority, followed by community development and resiliency and quality of life.

The plan was available for online public comment from May 28 to June 20. Feedback from respondents mentioned that the draft plan had a lack of clear and specific goals, which would make it difficult to track the city’s progress.

At the Savannah at Night town hall, attendees were informed that they will have access to a real-time dashboard where they can track the city’s progress on each of the six goals. Progress will be trackable in both physical and monetary values.

Summary of the strategic plan:

1. Increase public safety and our collective sense of security

Goal one is centered around building a strong sense of community safety due to the key investments in “effective public safety initiatives.”

The first objective, driving both violent crime, focuses on partnering with community organizations — a common theme throughout the draft plan — to engage in “targeted outreach, enacting common sense policies and ordinances, enforcing gun safety laws, and focusing on confiscating illegal firearms from the streets.”

It also details driving down preventable death numbers from fires and traffic accidents by expanding public education programs for household fires. It also plans to expand public education surrounding traffic accidents through the Vision Zero initiative, which prioritizes anticipating human errors while on the roads and designing policies so those errors do not result in fatalities.

The goal also turns its focus to the youth population by providing them with services such as mentorship, job training and violence prevention programs.

The second objective is wholly focused on building community partnerships and improving transparency through these partnerships. The objective also mentions improving public communication during emergencies, developing online, interactive public engagement tools and regularly reviewing public safety policies so they’re up-to-date.

Though community partnerships is a recurring theme throughout the draft, the only named program is the Community Specialist Program which will increase police presence to focus on quality of life issues.

The last two objectives are focused on public safety personnel; providing them with tools and resources to help them best meet modern challenges, and developing a recruitment strategy to retain and develop a “diverse and highly qualified” workforce.

2. Invest in equitable community development and resiliency

Goal two is dedicated to building stronger neighborhoods and protecting housing while celebrating the many unique cultures that make up the city.

It focuses on one of the main concerns for residents, affordable housing and homelessness. Specifically, it plans to remove barriers and offer incentives to developers that will encourage the development of more affordable housing.

It also plans to partner with community organizations to develop an effective crisis response system, improve connections to permanent housing services and continually address public safety issues that could affect the homeless population.

The goal also features a spotlight on health resources and investing in “world-class, community-based” recreation programs that are accessible for all residents. There is also a plan to improve civic engagement by developing and improving commission training and support, as well as providing more opportunities for citizens to participate in local government.

Finally, the city wants to prioritize protecting Savannah’s diverse local history, with a specific focus on the restoration of the Savannah Civic Center. There are also plans to implement projects that prioritize local arts and the reuse of materials, as well as hosting programs that attract audiences to learn about the city’s diverse history.

There is also mention of developing and implementing a Public Art Master Plan. There is no additional information available about what this plan means or what it will affect.

3. Expand economic access, opportunity and vitality for all 

Goal three focuses on providing residents with economic security by ensuring fair access to economic opportunities. Primarily, the focus is on low-income families by investing in workforce development programs that will land residents in high-paying jobs.

The plan also prioritizes the support of local, small and minority-owned businesses by expanding business training and offering incentives to encourage the growth of these businesses. This also has the added benefit of increasing jobs in the community.

The city also intends to increase investment in underinvested areas to help prevent displacement and fend off the negative impacts of gentrification. It also plans to employ land-use policies to prioritize the preservation of historic neighborhoods.

Finally, the plan aims to expand access to public transportation by increasing infrastructure to things like sidewalks, bike paths and pedestrian crossings. The city also plans to work with federal, regional, state and local partners to provide low-income residents maximum access to public transportation.

4. Develop world class environment and infrastructure

While many of the goals in the plan have segments focused on infrastructure, this goal is built around increasing infrastructure around the city without a focus on one particular sector.

The city plans to develop a comprehensive stormwater plan, which will outline the construction of infrastructure that can reduce flooding and mitigate the impact of storms, hurricanes and other extreme weather events.

Overall, this goal plans to consistently deliver high-quality maintenance across the city, modernizing public spaces in order to better meet community needs. It also places an emphasis on using recycled, locally sourced tools in construction.

5. Improve quality of life by raising municipal service standards

Similar to the previous goal, this one focuses on improving quality of life across the city without a focus on any one particular sector. The common theme circles around keeping infrastructure clean and well-maintained.

The main points the goal focuses on is removing graffiti and ensuring that services that trash and recycling pickup are completed in a timely and consistent manner.

The city also intends to expand their 311 system so it can serve as a centralized platform for tracking service requests from across the city, as well as track and identify trends in service demand.

Following a comment made at the Savannah at Night town hall, an additional strategy under goal five was added to the plan. The strategy pays special attention to balancing the needs of residents with maintaining the city’s status as a “global visitor destination.”

6. Always be a high-performing government

The final goal focuses primarily on transparency and assuring that community dollars are spent on purchases and programs that are best for the community. There is also a specific focus on keeping property taxes as low as possible.

The city also wants to improve on the currently used technology in order to make services fast, easy and accurate. The plan also states that the city will implement a new Enterprise Resource Planning system, although there is no specific information about what that means or what it entails.

There is also a focus on building a team of public servants that are committed to providing services to residents, similar to one of the points in the first goal.

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