Special Called Meeting | March 26, 2026

The City of Savannah held a special called meeting on March 26, 2026, focused primarily on addressing blighted properties in the Kyler Brownsville neighborhood through eminent domain proceedings. City staff, led by the senior director of housing and neighborhood services, presented six specific properties identified as unsafe, uninhabitable, and abandoned, with significant code violations and crime issues. The council held public hearings on these properties and subsequently passed resolutions authorizing the city manager to initiate condemnation proceedings to acquire the properties, subject to superior court approval. The process includes court determinations of blight status and fair market value, with the intent to transfer acquired properties to the land bank authority for rehabilitation or redevelopment into affordable and workforce housing. The meeting also included public comments from neighborhood association representatives supporting the efforts and from legal counsel representing property owners involved in complex foreclosure and litigation issues, who requested temporary forbearance. The council emphasized prioritizing community safety and quality of life, affirming their commitment to using available legal tools to remediate blight and improve the neighborhood.