Phase I Cultural Resources Survey of the City of Savannah Arena Development Tract Chatham County, Georgia

Between June 28 and July 2, 2019, Brockington and Associates, Inc., completed a Phase I cultural resources survey of the proposed City of Savannah Arena in Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia. This survey was carried out on behalf of Hussey Gay Bell, in partial fulfillment of guidelines established for Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, and in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (as amended through 2006). The cultural resources survey includes both an archaeological and a historic architectural survey component. Our field investigations identified one archaeological site (9CH1519), and 42 historic resources within the project’s area of potential effect (APE). Site 9CH1519 is the remnants of a mid- to late twentieth century industrial plant that was part of the Lafarge (now Argos) concrete plant that was constructed some time before 1971. Site 9CH1519 is recommended not eligible for the NRHP and additional management considerations of this resource is not warranted. Among the 42 historic resources documented within the architectural APE, five are previously recorded NRHP-eligible resources (Resources HP-2, HP-6, CH-SAV-01, CH-SAV-02, and CH-SAV-08) that were reevaluated to determine if they still retained sufficient integrity to be NRHP-eligible. After reexamining these five previously recorded resources, we recommend that each resource still retains sufficient integrity to remain eligible for inclusion on the NRHP. We also identified 27 additional newly recorded resources, which included two residential neighborhoods, two industrial districts, 10 industrial/ commercial buildings, 11 residential buildings, one church, and one school. Among these newly recorded resources, we recommend that one residential building with its accompanying outbuildings (SA-21) and the single school building (SA-26) are eligible for the NRHP. The remaining 25 newly recorded resources identified during this study are not eligible for the NRHP and additional management of these ineligible resources is not warranted. We recommend that a detailed assessment of effect be conducted for each of the NRHP-eligible resources identified during this study once final construction plans become available. This would include Resources HP-2, HP-6, CH-SAV-01, CHSAV- 02, and CH-SAV-08, Carver Village National Register District, SA-21, and SA-26.