City Planner Heading to Atlanta

Tim Keane, City of Charleston’s Director of Planning, Preservation and Sustainability, announced this week that he’s leaving his job here for a similar position in Atlanta.
Keane helmed City Hall’s plan to revitalize West Ashley and now some are worried that with him gone, efforts will slow in this part of town, keying on Citadel Mall and the Sam Rittenberg Boulevard commercial corridor.
Two weeks ago, three city councilmen sent a letter to Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr., asking for $150,000 in matching funding for a study of West Ashley’s main traffic arteries. That request prompted some to wonder the motivation of the letter, considering that Keane had been leading the revitalization planning process in this part of town for close to a year.
Riley last week said in a press release that Keane’s deputy planning director, Yvonne Fortenberry, would take over the department as the city conducted a national search for a replacement.
Keane had been overseeing a host of projects all over the city, from the controversial razing of the Sgt. Jasper apartment building downtown to building “gathering sites” on James Island.
Keane, speaking on the phone in Atlanta, said West Ashley was in good hands in City Hall. He praised Mandi Herring, the newly hired West Ashley-specific planner.
“Mandi Herring is awesome,” said Keane. “She has lots of energy and is smart, and she gets things done. And the mayor is still committed to seeing it through in West Ashley” before his term ends.
City Councilman Bill Moody, one of three West Ashley councilmen who sent the aforementioned letter, said he’s not worried because of Riley’s track record of hiring good department heads.  “He’ll just get another one, or move somebody up from inside,” said Moody.
Keane, who has worked for the City of Charleston off and on since 1999, will become the commissioner of planning and growth in Atlanta, in charge of everything from building permits to improving in-town traffic.