I have always thought that one of urban Savannah’s greatest untapped assets are those previously unused and often times neglected spaces on the roofs of both the residential and commercial buildings here. When I launched my gardening business in downtown Savannah in January of 1999, I always encouraged opportunities to utilize these areas where the benefits can be multi faceted such as cooling breezes (you have to watch what you wish for here – too much wind can be a real problem), incredible views like the picture at left from a balcony at the Derenne building, or the one-of-a-kind space on East Bay Street that I planted in 2003, (see page two of my old gardening newsletter). Winter sun is also desirable if you like having year-round seasonal color or a comfortable place for winter mid-day sitting. As lovely as our courtyard settings are, once we get into late fall and winter, it is nearly impossible to keep a colorful garden without at least 3-4 hours of direct sun and that is rare when you are surrounded by two, three, four, and more story buildings.

Now that I have been full time in Real Estate going on for three years, it is clear that rooftop spaces are also about added resale value because living in our climate is a bit lame without some outdoor spaces to enjoy our almost year round comfortable temperatures and sunshine. With all the controversy about lot coverage with the proposed densely designed projects that were being planned in 2006 for some of the few remaining buildable lots in the middle of our Landmark District, I also see roof gardens as a viable way to solve some of these problems downtown. We need parking and we want outdoor living and the city requires a balance of greenspace/buildings. If there was a way to guarantee that rooftops would truly be landscaped such as what is planned for Ellis Square, why not allow higher lot coverage ratios as long as the design is good and a larger than normally required percentage of greenspace is planned one floor and more above? There must be plenty of good examples of this in other parts of the world. Street level views and elevations would need to be carefully considered for all the pedestrians and neighbors. This also really ties in well with the current green building movement taking root in Savannah.

Until Next Week,

Ron Melander