October 22, 2009 – 10:58 pm
The city’s General Appeals Board today rejected a request by the developers of the Ashby Highrise to gain permit approvals for the 23-story project’s original version — which includes a larger number of residences and more commercial space than the plans that finally received permits from the city. “Matthew Morgan, one of the two principals with Buckhead Investment Partners, said the next step would likely be to appeal to the Houston City Council. . . . Ironically, the prolonged battle that has been played out not only in the city bureaucracy but with yard signs, bumper stickers and vocal, packed protests did not draw any other media or public attention Thursday at this key city hearing.” [West University Examiner; previously on Swamplot]
Read more about: 77005, Ashby Highrise, Boulevard-Oaks, Development Regulations, Highrises, Mixed Use, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Southampton
August 21, 2009 – 5:32 pm
Note: Story updated below.
The 11th time’s the charm! According to Abc13 reporter Miya Shay, the city today gave the developers of the Ashby Highrise the final approval they needed to begin construction of the 23-story residential tower at the corner of Ashby and Bissonnet, next to Southampton.
Okay now everybody, show us your cards!
Update, 5:49 p.m.: Some details about why the most recent plans were approved, from a city news release via the River Oaks Examiner:
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Read more about: 77005, Apartments, Ashby Highrise, Boulevard-Oaks, Condos, Development Regulations, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Southampton, Traffic
August 20, 2009 – 12:56 pm
Does your street intersect one of the new light-rail lines within a quarter-mile of a proposed station? If so, it’s now called an “A” Street, and the Urban Corridors Ordinance, which City Council approved yesterday, has some new development restrictions and exemptions that affect it, effective immediately: “The ordinance will mandate six-foot sidewalks near stations while increasing the citywide sidewalk standard from four feet to five feet. The ordinance creates an incentive program to entice developers to build more livable, walkable, and urban places. In return, the developers will be exempted from the 25-foot setback required in the rest of the city, allowing them to build on a greater percentage of land.” [Houston Tomorrow]
Read more about: Development Regulations, Light-Rail, Transportation
Wondering what’s been going on with the Ashby Highrise? Developer Matthew Morgan tells the River Oaks Examiner that Buckhead Development intends to respond to “the city’s attempts to reach an agreement” with a new submission for the proposed 23-story residential tower on Bissonnet, next to Southampton.
But the city rejected the highrise’s plans again yesterday . . . for the 10th time. The city said its own analysis showed the project as currently proposed would result in an “F” level of traffic at the corner of Shepherd and Bissonnet:
However, “A significant reduction in peak-hour trips, including appropriate trip offsets, could have a potential to address heightened concerns,” a city engineer, Mark L. Loethen, wrote in his comments.
Computing traffic level involves a formula that rates intersection flow from “A” (no traffic) to “F” (very slow).
The rejected plans were submitted April 7, making the three months until they were returned to the developers unusually long.
Rendering of proposed Ashby Highrise, 1717 Bissonnet: Buckhead Investment Partners
Read more about: 77005, Apartments, Ashby Highrise, Boulevard-Oaks, Condos, Development Regulations, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Southampton, Traffic
Working from a remote and undisclosed location, the now-expatriate Houston engineer known as Keep Houston Houston puts together a rough diagram identifying the city’s “traditional” walkable neighborhoods, and comments:
Houston has no shortage of gridded, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods. Thing is, they’re all kind of squished together. And with a couple of exceptions, they were all platted out before 1935. What’s there is there. We’re not adding to it.
Why?
Developer conservatism plays a role, but is ethereal, subject to evaporate as soon as *someone* steps up and proves that suburban [Traditional Neighborhood Development] is sufficiently profitable. But several city standards and rules are standing in the way.
Are Houston’s development rules really the obstacle?
Keep Houston Houston scans through the city’s development ordinance, then throws together a quick design for a residential neighborhood following the basic requirements. What does that end up looking like?
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Read more about: Development Regulations, Master-Planned Communities, Streetscapes, Walkability
Sugar Land requires single-family rental units to be inspected each year. And the city council has just voted to require the same for multifamily apartments: “The multifamily ordinance must be approved on second reading at a future meeting to become law. If approved, the measure will require apartment owners to pay an annual fee of $8 per rental unit. Sugar Land Community and Environmental Director Mike Goodrum told City Council members on Tuesday that the fee would equate to an annual cost of about $2,000 to $2,400 for the typical apartment complex in the city. Most of those complexes, he said, are owned by Gables Residential of Atlanta, Ga., which was consulted during creation of the new proposed policy. . . . Since apartment complexes typically have somewhat rapid tenant turnover, city inspectors would annually inspect those units that are vacant on the day the inspector schedules a visit, Goodrum indicated.” [Fort Bend Now]
Read more about: 77478, 77479, 77498, Apartments, Development Regulations, Public Safety, Sugar-Land
That ordinance passed by West University’s city council that would have required sprinklers in all new West U homes won’t go into effect — despite the lobbying efforts of local fire chiefs. Earlier this month Governor Perry went ahead and signed a bill that takes away the right of local municipalities to create sprinkler requirements. An amendment to the bill was added shortly after West U’s ordinance passed, but is retroactive to the first of the year. [Off the Kuff; previously on Swamplot]
Read more about: 77005, Development Regulations, Fire Sprinklers, Fires, West University
“Density hasn’t been kind to Cottage Grove, a small neighborhood with narrow streets, few sidewalks, poor drainage and scarce parking for the owners of its many new homes and their guests. Like many neighborhoods inside Loop 610, Cottage Grove in recent years has experienced a flurry of construction of large townhomes that loom over 80-year-old cottages next door. Two or three dwellings crowd sites where one house stood previously. Streets are cluttered with vehicles parked every which way. Water stands in the streets after heavy rains. ‘It was shocking to see this jewel of a neighborhood in this condition,’ said former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, a senior fellow with the nonprofit Urban Land Institute who toured Cottage Grove two years ago. ‘It was about the ugliest thing I’d ever seen, to be honest with you.’” [Houston Chronicle]
Read more about: 77007, Cottage Grove, Development Regulations, Redevelopment, Townhomes
“In the interests of improving the community as a whole do you think it would be possible for the City of Bellaire to call a moratorium on the building of faux Tuscan McMansions? Or perhaps a number of turrets per home limit?” [Jimbo, commenting on Crossing That Thin Baby Blue Line]
Read more about: 77401, Bellaire, Comments, Development Regulations, Home Design, Theming, Turrets
A bill recently passed by the Texas Legislature — inspired by problems encountered in contacting the 150 separate owners of Candlelight Trails in northwest Houston — would make it a whole lot easier for the city to demolish decrepit condo complexes. “The bill by Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, applies only to Houston. It requires every condo development to maintain a registered agent to accept service of legal papers; if any development fails to do so, the Texas secretary of state automatically becomes the agent. The law will take effect Sept. 1 if Gov. Rick Perry signs it or allows it to become law without his signature. Perry will review the measure carefully before deciding, spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said. Current law requires each owner to be served either in person or through a legal notice in a newspaper. Defendants served through publication have two years to file a motion for a new trial. ‘It is extremely time-consuming, expensive and allows the substandard and often dangerous conditions to continue while the city struggles to obtain personal service on each owner,’ Ann Travis, Mayor Bill White’s governmental affairs director, said in a background document explaining the bill.” [Houston Chronicle]
Read more about: 77091, Candlelight Trails, Condos, Crime, Demolitions, Development Regulations, Inwood Forest, Neighborhood Disputes
Comment of the Day: How We Beat the Zoning Boards
“. . . I’ll have to plead the 5th as to how I came to understand this, but let it be known that city councils and P&Z boards can be bought over quite easily. All it takes is for a developer to contract the consulting services of a well-connected ex-councilmember at some ludicrious price and send him to town with a five-figure entertainment budget (which sounds like a lot, but isn’t in the scope of a $50 mil. project); meanwhile, the developer ensures that their first renderings contain a few blatantly offensive architectural features that the targeted politicians can criticize. The developer makes the changes requested (which they would’ve made anyway) so as that the targeted politicians can save face with their constituents. And the really dangerous part of all this is that once a politician is clearly in your pocket, it’s hard for them to say no to just about anything else in the future so long as the developer provides them with a mechanism to save face. . . .” [TheNiche, commenting on Ashby Highrise Loses Appeal]