As Savannah’s Waterfront enters its sixth decade as a destination for residents and visitors to enjoy, it is more important than ever to ensure a continually attractive, interesting, and safe experience from one end to the other.
For over 50 years, Savannah’s Waterfront, a 501c3 non-profit, has been serving their membership of property owners and businesses along the waterfront with a mission to
Preserve our history, maintain our appearance
Promote the area to the public and
Promote cooperation among stakeholder businesses.
Savannah’s Waterfront is focused on the betterment of the waterfront – a historic treasure that a growing number of people enjoy and cherish. There’s nothing else like it in the continental United States.
In 2019, Savannah’s Waterfront – run by a volunteer board of directors – had shifted it’s focus from being just a festival and event organizing association to show folks a good time on the river to have more of a focus on how to care for and sustain the waterfront – long term.
The needs of the waterfront have changed dramatically over the last two decades, while we are still facing old challenges. And everyone in Savannah agreed that aesthetic upgrades and additional services have been needed for a long time. The health of Savannah’s Waterfront is a big indicator of our city’s quality of life.
The board asked the question – how could we sustain an environment where businesses could not only succeed but thrive, long into the future, while sustainably caring for the waterfront? There are many waterfront businesses and properties that are moving into the second generation of ownership and operation.
We discovered a mechanism in Georgia where commercial property owners within a defined geographic area agree to levy an additional property tax to be used within that area. This new CID could be the tool that would allow us to find solutions by banding together to solve long-standing challenges to the waterfront’s success.
Savannah’s Waterfront set out to elevate the quality of the River Street experience in a new way – by creating the first Community Improvement District in Chatham County.
Savannah’s Waterfront Community Improvement District (SWCID) was created in 2023 when waterfront commercial property owners agreed to pay an additional annual assessment based upon the value of their properties to fund certain programs and projects above and beyond the basic level of city-provided services. SWCID is now leading the effort to expedite public safety, beautification and economic improvement strategies for the benefit of businesses, employees and visitors.
Learn more about SWCID’s Vision and Implementation Plan for River Street here.