Here’s just one paragraph from a nine-page variance request application submitted for consideration at today’s Planning Commission hearing:
So what message does this whole process send to people like me who are willing to go out and spend their time and their hard earned money and take risks in order to improve the city and improve our neighborhoods? The message is: Only the guys with deep pockets and deep connections—the Perry Homes, the Tricons, the Fingers, the Olmsteads, the Levits, the Weingartens—only those guys get to win at this game. Those guys can build what they want when they want. Everybody else loses. Everybody else gets bad advice and the run around. Everybody else should just stay home and sit quietly on their couches and watch TV.
There’s more to like in Jared Meadors’s request to subdivide the 49-by-120-ft. property he owns at 2601 Baylor St. in Sunset Heights into three separate lots — including an accounting of his annual net adjusted income over the last three years, two HAR.com screen shots, and some occasional heavy leaning on the CAPS LOCK key. But it’s nothing, really, compared to his more wide-ranging complaints about his difficulties with his neighbors and the Prevailing Lot Size ordinance that he has posted on the website of his company, Medusa Properties. It begins:
NEW CONSTRUCTION! SUNSET HEIGHTS - MODERN CRAFTSMAN STYLE - AVAIL SPRING 2008
*** UPDATE *** THE BLUE HAIRED LAWN NAZIS OF EAST SUNSET HEIGHTS STRIKE AGAIN!
More name-calling, after the jump!
* * *
Meadors’s website continues:
Looks like I�m famous: http://www.chron.com/ . . . 5589475.html
What a predictable bunch of saps these Sunset Heights “neighbors” of mine are! They are too funny. I set �em up and they go right for the bait! :) (I spoke with one of them after the last hearing and he told me “oh, yeah, we�re familiar with your website”, so I went home and wrote a bunch of crazy stuff on here that I knew would get their goat!
I just feel sorry for that sad excuse for a “journalist”, Betty Martin, who just sullied herself by letting Ms. Davids write such a completely one-sided article about the whole situation–without bothering to contact me for my side of the story–and then putting her name on it! Wow. Only in the Chronicle! :) I�m going to try and remember to send Betty a personal invitation to the house razing party in a few weeks. We�re gonna get a keg and a bunch of sledgehammers and let everyone take a few whacks at it. (Hey, Vicki–you�re definitely invited!)
I forwarded this article to everyone I know–they got a huge kick out of it… especially the 26 tenants in my vintage apartments all over town… Jared–”The Evil Developer”! What a riot.
Meadors is a serial restorer of older rental properties in Houston and Salt Lake City, and he provides detailed descriptions and photographs of his projects on the Medusa Properties website. He claims representatives of the Planning Dept. told him no minimum-lot-size application existed for his property when he bought it, and that he only learned from the department that one did exist after he had applied for the replat. The Chronicle story by Betty Martin he refers to quotes from an earlier version of his website, and ends with:
“Obviously there are a lot worse things I could build on this lot (than) what I originally intended, which the neighbors may soon find out if this drags on too long,” he warns on the Web site. “Can anyone say ‘methadone clinic?’ “
It’s not an exact quotation, though — Meadors apparently had placed a smiley at the end of his comments. And Meadors has since posted a response:
I do have to say that I have reconsidered the methadone clinic, however. I’m now leaning more toward a halfway house for recently released pedophiles at this location… that’s really what the neighbors really deserve… that or a strip bar. Sunset Heights really doesn’t HAVE a really good strip bar…
:)
(And you can “quote” me on that, Betty!)
- Public Meeting Agenda (see item 92) [City of Houston Planning & Development Department]
- City postpones decision on Baylor Street property in Sunset Heights [Houston Chronicle]
- Sunset Heights - Modern Craftsman Style - Avail Spring 2008 [Medusa Properties]
Photo of the former post office at 2601 Baylor St.: Jared Meadors
11 Comments
Hi Betty Martin,
I’d like to meet you because if you are as pretty as you are good at misjudging people you must be a beauty.
I have rented from Jared Meadors and he has taught me a lot about renovation, real-estate, architecture, and the history of Houston. Most important he has taught me fiscal responsibility and choosing quality over quantity.
I would agree with you that most developers build cheap and fast with little concern for the neighborhood. I lived in Rice Military on Crooms St. where there physically is not enough room for the Fire Engines to turn the corner and put out fires if need be - not to mention no parking. Did you cover that story? My neighbors and I fought the developer and lost. I guarantee that Jared is not in that class of developers. He is in an entirely different league. If you had rented from Jared and lived in one of his remodels you’d know what I mean.
I am disappointed to read your statement that Jared was not reachable. According to my sources he wanted to meet with the Heights association. They did not want to meet with him. Is that true? If you need his phone number, I will give it to you. Just post a comment asking me.
Heck, I’ll meet with you to give my side of the story. Will you contact me and quote me in your future articles? I will meet you, take you out to dinner and then go introduce you to Jared. You’ll enjoy meeting him - he is very nice, intelligent and fun to hang out with.
Anyway, it is a shame that it has come to this because it only creates animosity between neighbors and the end result will be vengeance and name calling. If the heights people had met with Jared they could have worked together and build something cool. Jared is innovative and manages his life so well that he can afford to build something cool, hip and helpful for the community. Now that you have labeled him as an evil developer you may just get what you have manifested in your mind. Careful what you predict.
I look forward to hearing from you. By the way, I forgive you because I myself have been guilty of misjudging people.
Christopher Walker 37 and single :)
Christopher,
We’re happy to host your letter to Betty Martin, but until she finds this, you might have better success reaching her if you add your comments to her original article in the Chronicle, or send her a direct email — her address is listed at the bottom of her story.
Gus,
Thanks for hosting my letter and I will send it to her. Thanks for the tip.
Chris
How can I see the 9 page variance application? I put my eMail address and the item number in at the bottom of the city’s site so it would allegedly be eMailed to me but I haven’t received jack.
Starkeshia: Unfortunately, the application was part of the Draft Agenda available on the Planning Commission website, but it’s since been replaced with the Final Agenda, which merely records the commission’s decision. Draft Agendas apparently are apparently available from the website only on Wednesdays and Thursdays on the weeks of Planning Commission meetings. But I’ll email you the proper section of the copy we downloaded and saved before the meeting.
For future reference, here’s the needlessly complicated way you can download agendas yourself. (If you do this now, you’ll get the Final Agenda, but if you do it two weeks from yesterday, you’ll get the latest Draft version, which will contain all the goodies for the next meeting.) Ready? Here’s what to do:
First, click on the “Public Meeting Agenda” link at the bottom of the article above. On the DRC System page that comes up, click on “View Planning Commission Meeting Schedule.” On the next page that appears, click on the meeting date you’re interested in. On the Public Meeting Agenda page that appears, scroll down to the section marked “Detailed Public Meeting Agenda” and click on the button marked “Download Agenda Now.” Click “I agree” on the next page that appears. Then wait as a 200-plus-page PDF file downloads . . . slowly. Save it!
If anyone else wants a copy of the application discussed in this post, just leave a comment below.
Gus,
I appreciate all the coverage you’ve given this story. I would like to respond to Christopher, if I may. I’m sure Mr. Jared is a decent human being and an all around good guy to RENT from. That’s not the issue here. Neighborhood preservation by OWNERS of homes in the area IS the issue.
Thanks.
Give me a break, Becky. What houses have you restored or preserved? Give me your list and I’ll give you mine. Let’s see who has chops and who’s just a windbag.
The reality is that NOT ALL OLD BUILDING ARE WORTH RESTORING. Guess what, bro? The population of the city of Houston is growing by about 20,000 people a year (http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/GeneralPlan/ACSCensusData.pdf). If we can’t redevelop old crappy neighborhoods like East Sunset Heights, where exactly do you think those people are going to live? Are you going to host a family in your 1000 s.f. bungalow? Get real.
And when did property rights depend on residency? You’re saying that because I don’t LIVE in the house that I want to tear down that I shouldn’t enjoy the same rights and privileges that you do? WFT is that? Property rights are about OWNERSHIP, not proximity. (Unless you live in Costa Rica, where homeless squatters can move on to your property and you can’t legally evict them… maybe you should move to Costa Rica–I’ve been there, it’s nice.)
Becky, you’re obviously a moron and have no idea what the actual issues are here. You’re kind of like the goofy neighbor, David, who lives across the street from the property on Baylor. We had (a friendly) conversation about “the issues” one day out on the street and I asked, “did you sign the petition for the application for prevailing lot size ordinance?” and he said, “Uh, yeah. Some lady kept coming by the house and pestering me about it so I just finally signed it.” Then I asked, “Don’t you realize that you just wiped 20-30% off the value of your lot by doing that–maybe more? I mean, I was only willing to pay $155,000 for this corner lot because I could legally build one houses on it. Now I can only build one. Can’t you see how that would negatively impact the value of your property?” He stood there for second with that dumbfounded look of realization on his fact that maybe he should have actually read the application that he signed so cavalierly… maybe he had made another in a long series of bad financial decisions that had brought him to that point in life… and he said, “Uh, yeah, well, I guess I never thought of it that way….”
He never thought about it at all–and neither did the rest of the suckers that bought into what Mary Ellen and Vickie were selling. Only a slim majority–like 51%–of the affected neighbors signed on–which is all they needed–which is one of the worst elements of the ordinance. I small majority of fascists can basically run roughshod over the other property owners–and, in the end, cause them great financial harm. I mean, David was too lazy or too stupid to consider the impact on him–as I’m sure many of the signatories were. He didn’t go out looking for it, he didn’t go to any neighborhood meetings–someone brought it to his door–repeatedly–until he just capitulated. (Kind of like the snake oil salesmen of old, right?)
And the sad reality is that nothing has changed. The crappy little bungalows keep getting bought up and torn down–but now the houses are just BIGGER and UGLIER–because the passing of the ordinance necessitates it. (Drive up and down 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th… you’ll see what I’m talking about. Because the ordinance doesn’t PREVENT redevelopment–it doesn’t even LIMIT it… it just annoys it.
The plans I submitted to the Planning Department–after consulting when them for months to find out what I could legally build on that lot) called for three, moderately sized, craftsman style houses–facing Baylor. 2000-2200 s.f. Affordable, reasonable in scale. In keeping with the style of the neighborhood. Was that insensitive of me? Callous?
So, now that the PLSO has been passed, instead of that, what you’ll end up with is a 3000-4000 s.f. behemoth–because that’s the only thing that works now. Which is why that’s the only thing being built over there now.
So, did the PLSO preserve anything? You tell me, genius, what EXACTLY was gained by it?
Okay, Jared - you want to start this up again I can see. Calling me a moron is rather petty, but I’m willing to share a few more thoughts about you so-called “high minded developers”.
The couple of comments you made gave me some food for thought. I don’t debate that Houston’s population is on the rise - not rocket science there, but neither does it give the privilege to people with money to come into those so called “crappy” neighborhoods and roost people out. We’re talking about people here, bro. I’m sure the poeple living in East Sunset Heights don’t find their neighborhood crappy. They simply want to protect where they live from developers like yourself who come in and build these multiple skinny townhomes on undersized replatted lots to rent out. They like the look and feel of their so called “crappy” neighborhood. If you feel so inclined to build money making homes, try River Oaks - oh, I forget, they have neighborhood protections in place to save them from your type of structures. And as for the poor “goofy” neighor who didn’t realize that your building would improve his lot value - bummer there, bro. Unless he is selling his home, it’s not relevant. Oops - I forgot, this is the way neighbors are run out - higher taxes.
One last thought - you build what you choose - not what you’re “forced” into. It’s really about the money. With developers, it always is - money, not people or the neighborhoods they so proudly think they are building “up”.
The people of the Heights have worked hard to roost out the drug houses and other criminal elements that plagued this neighborhood for a decade or two. Now that it is considered a nice and safe place to live, and because of our hard work and belief in our neighborhoods, there are some predatory developers that want to come in, build quickly and make a quick buck. It is because of our hard work in keeping up our properties and working with the existing homeowners who were already here, and vigilance that this area is now an attractive area to build. There are many beautiful homes, bungalow style and contemporary, that have been built in the area by developers for responsible growth that help to increase the value (property and living value) of our neighborhoods. What the predatory developers leave behind falls apart fairly rapidly, and the neighborhood quickly deteriorates back to blight and overgrowth. Where are these developers when that happens? Nowhere to be found. Money pocketed and onto the next quick buck.
I agree with Mary Ellen and Becky. Im a such home owner that has just had the sun blocked out by these 3 story POS structures that all they do is create more street clutter and water shed for the area. I must admit that we almost considered moving to the country side when we saw that 4 - 3 story home were going up next to our house. We are looking to move into Heights proper, in order to escape the “Row housing”. I will never agree to a developer. I rather be overrun by 51% of the neighborhood.
I’ve read every comment and don’t ever see an end to this perpetual debate. I am the ‘developer’ that just completed, sold, and moved in some truly extraordinary people to this wonderful neighborhood I have lived in almost all of my adult life. With that said, I only want to address one comment. The one about it only being about the money. I think it’s pretty apparent this not to be true by simply looking at what we’ve done on the 900 block of E 26th. People don’t like change and perhaps those not in favor should have considered this before they moved into an urban neighborhood of which will almost always become developed sooner or later. I am truly sympathetic for those that oppose, but perhaps you should appreciate having some of the most authentic and beautiful homes in The Heights at your door step…Good luck to all, with all of your agendas….