With several neighbors and a city council member speaking in support and no one protesting, Houston’s planning commission granted a variance yesterday to the new owners of the former site of the Wilshire Village apartments at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy. The variance will allow Sul Ross and Branard streets, which currently dead end into the 7.68-acre vacant tract, to remain dead ends as the property is redeveloped into a new Montrose H-E-B market.
In return, the planning department will get some vaguely defined involvement in planning the site. “As a condition of granting the variance,” explained the planning department’s Brian Crimmins,
the applicant will be required to coordinate with the planning department during the site plan stage to establish a reasonable landscape buffer between the subject site and and adjacent properties as well as reasonable preservation of the mature tree canopy on the site. The applicant has agreed to these conditions.
Neighbors had complained about earlier plans submitted for the property — which did not require city approval because they followed the city’s development ordinance. Those plans connected Sul Ross and Branard to form a loop, like this:
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Other permissable options not requiring a variance would have been to extend the streets to Dunlavy
or to build cul-de-sacs at the end of each.
The granted variance will effectively exclude commercial traffic from Sul Ross and Branard:
Representatives of H-E-B have apparently suggested to neighbors that they will build walls at the end of each street, but site plans for the development itself have not been provided to neighbors or city officials.
“The previous owner of the property,” one neighbor explained to commission members,
was very protective of the property. He didn’t allow people to walk on the property, he didn’t allow them to turn around. So putting a wall up there will not change the community’s expectations.
- Wilshire Village coverage [Swamplot]
Photo: Flickr user Carl Guderian; Diagrams from HTV coverage
Please. an HEB, its parking lot, a buffer for Sul Ross & Branard AND some of the established trees cannot all fit on that property!!
A few, saved trees will end up in parking lot medians, after their roots have been compacted and damaged, and then they will die within two years.
The neighborhood will get a 10′ tall, stone-look, set-in-place concrete barrier.
The grocery will suffer no concessions at all.
No one protested? Not one person? Maybe they announced the meeting the day before. Or maybe the day after.
Any moron familiar with the area knows what a nightmare Dunlavy will become but then I guess “driveway ordinances” and “traffic impact studies” only apply when pretentious people and spoiled little brats object and have a mayor, or two, to pull strings. Although of course strings were pulled at Wilshire Village as well. No warnings, no red tags. Just suddenly, condemned. Same thing at Park Memorial.
Same thing at Station 16. Of course the fire marshal probably had second thoughts. Although it did leave the impression that anyone is subject to condemnation by the fire marshal. Even the Fire Department.
I doubt one tree will survive. But of course HEB, good neighbor that it is, will put in some crepe myrtle or even a palm tree or two.
Greedy Fucking Bastards
Crape Myrtles and Palms should not count as trees in the X amount of trees to parking space ratio. Does anyone in the city even enforce that law?
Interesting that no one protested. Our condo association is trying to get a measly 2′ variance to rebuild a 50 year old carport (in the exact spot in which it has been since 1960)and we have to post large signs on each street front of our property and supply the City a list of every property owner within 250′ radius. Was there a sign posted on the property?
And in less than 10 years the HEB there will look like the Fiesta across the street. Plastic kid’s furniture, dollar store items, baby beds, and who know what else crammed in the aisles so that two carts cannot pass side by side.
Exactly like the HEB in Gulfgate. And, please don’t start yelling. We have a huge Fiesta on Wayside. I shop there for some things and at HEB for others. Only now, there’s not much difference in the two. Except the prices.
Considering the hearing was for the varience request for the dead ends its not surprising that noone discussed traffic on Dunlavy. But I’ll admit it’s far more entertaining to incorporate it into your vast conspiracy theory argument Matt.
Glad to see you’re still managing to incorporate the station 16 temporary closure into that too. After all the explanation that the fire department merely wanted their people out until they had verified the safety of the building was far too dull.
Bring it on: more competition for Kroger and maybe kill the tacky Fiesta across Dunalvy.It looks like a fricking flea market.
After all the explanation that the fire department merely wanted their people out until they had verified the safety of the building was far too dull.
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You give far too much credibility to our “city inspectors.” Some things they claim will collapse probably won’t. Some things they claim won’t collapse probably will.
Can oaks of that size and age survive transplantation?
But people have been protesting it. They even formed a group on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10150115310940104&v=wall How many grocery stores do we need in this area? We already have at least 5 within 10 miles of each other.
Protesting the street and Facebook is nice, but all these people are just posers. If they truly objected to the HEB going in, wouldn’t they have attended the Planning Commission meeting. And if they were so passionate, getting out of work to voice the opinion isn’t a problem.
Every property owner in the 250′ radius and the signs for all people traveling by had all the information including the meeting time. Swamplot even posted the variance sign. Outside of a few yelpers, it seems this HEB is no big deal.
Protesting the street and Facebook is nice, but all these people are just posers. If they truly objected to the HEB going in, wouldn’t they have attended the Planning Commission meeting. And if they were so passionate, getting out of work to voice the opinion isn’t a problem.
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Yeah? Where were you? Either get involved yourself or don’t deride the efforts of a group doing the best it can. There is only so much a small group of fully dedicated leaders can do.
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There was nothing to protest regarding the variance. The application was widely supported by the community. No one wanted the road to be expanded, so get off your high horse and pay attention to what’s going on.
I love that Fiesta. Good selection (except for produce), convenient size, and of all things, great music.
M,
I like many in the neighborhood didn’t object to the variance.
There was no need for me to notify the planning commission of the need to ad myself the speaker list and go to the meeting and voice my opinion.
Did you do this? All variances let citizens make a plea in support or against a variance. Many of time variances will get approved with strings attached to benefit the neighborhood.
HEB offered the city some money to turn the land into a park if the city could come up with the majority of the funds needed to create the park. Guess what the city couldn’t afford to do? Oh, and a ‘reasonable’ number of trees means 4 for certain, maybe a few transplants.
kjb34
“I like many in the neighborhood……”
?????
Why should you even considering objecting or assenting at a hearing when your home is at least 3 miles away? Talk about some Gladys Kravitzing…..
JT,
I have to review the Planning Commission agenda for work, so I get see all the variances trying to be pushed.
If one was in my neighborhood and I objected, would show my face up to the Planning Commission meeting.
Have not seen much in the papers regarding the new HEB on Dunlavy/Alabama. Compared to the protest against the new WalMart in the Heights, not much has been in the news regarding this HEB.
Where is a realistic debate and analysis on the traffic nightmare this is going to create? Look what happened at the HEB next to the Kroger on Westpark.
Just another case of the city and citizens bending over to the greedy developers!
How can we stop our pitiful politicans and greedy developers from destroying our neighborhoods?