A Bellaire Zoning Battle; The Disappearing AC Units of Mason Lakes

millennium kirby

Photo of Millennium Kirby Apartment Complex under construction at Kirby and South Main: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

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  • Haha – the Woodlands is getting busses and federal transit money (and the corruption that comes with it). Now they get yet another negative facet of urban life, without all the benefits of being near the urban core. We’ll keep sending our out-priced hood rats, crime and bad schools your way…as the core gets nicer and nicer.

  • The Woodlands bringing bus service in-house
    http://www.houstonchronicle.com/neighborhood/woodlands/news/article/The-Woodlands-bringing-bus-service-in-house-5623035.php?cmpid=email-premium&t=53fe91ef13c2d51ab3

    Let’s hope Dallas/Chicago cheerleader John ‘anti-Houston’ Culberson won’t screw up federal transit money for The Woodlands, as he’s done in Houston.

  • Anyone know what happened to HAIF?

  • What the hell happened to HAIF? Did somebody forget to pay the hosting service this month or is it done for good?

  • I’m with the Bellaire homeowners on this one. The reason you live in Bellaire and not Houston is so you don’t have to deal with this kind of sh@t. No way this rezoning happens.

  • “Frankel declined our request for an interview. In the company’s proposal to the city to rezone, it call the land “undevelopable” otherwise, citing the railroad tracks, power lines and the property’s narrow width.”

    Yeah, because there’s not a million dollar mansion directly across the street from it, abutting the tracks. There also are no new homes at 4300 and 4301 of *every other street* on the railroad corridor in Bellaire. Heck, those are the smallest lots in the city, and they still sell and build new homes. The church on the track, on the other hand, has loads of buildable land just because of its depth. Sorry, no.

    .

  • Wow, a whole 2-story commercial building! I worked at 1900 N. Loop West (pre-Ike) which is now getting redeveloped, and it was six or seven stories and it is directly adjacent to homes. People who work in office buildings have better things to do than look into backyards, so Bellaire residents shouldn’t get their knickers in a twist.

    Maybe someone here can answer how a church is zoned as residential property, though?

  • I don’t understand the instant negative reaction to a commercial building going onto this property. Why is commercial such a terrible thing? I would assume all of these people that live by leave and go to a commercial building for work every day. Do they drive up the their office or place of work and think “man what a horrible thing, it’s so terrible to be next door to this”. My office is next door to residential and I don’t think we’re terrible neighbors.

  • ICYMI — here’s what’s going on just over the tracks: http://swamplot.com/apartments-or-maybe-more-to-replace-the-black-eyed-pea-on-bellaire-blvd/2014-06-17/
    I mentioned the church property in one of my comments. I don’t think the zoning variance sign had popped up yet, but it’s been for sale since last year.

  • Matthew,

    it is a quality of life issue. people in bellaire (i am not one of them) pay a premium to live in a place that has “rules” for land use.

    now, it was postulated what harm could it do. i can tell you, quite a bit. as an example, on bellaire, across from the valero gas station and on the other side of academy (behind union kitchen), there are two rub and tug “asian massage” spas.

    since neither actually is next to housing, they are ignored. now stick a rub and tug in that “office building” in bellaire, and i would suspect the neighbors would be less than thrilled that a covert SOB is operating within 10 feet of their property line.

    the previously mentioned two don’t seem to be an issue since one is in a strip center next to an ATT switching station and the other backs up to an apartment complex (morgan manor) and the union kitchen.