Swamplot Archives by Category: Development Restrictions

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Friday, January 9, 2009

The Great River Oaks Shopping Center Compromise of 2009

January 9, 2009 – 9:59 am

There was no showdown over the River Oaks Shopping Center variance request at yesterday’s Planning Commission hearing. In talks prior to the meeting, Weingarten Realty used its mad skillz to assuage the most vocal neighbors with a few minor changes to the patio-topped porte-cochere facing Shepherd Drive — already under construction — that violated the setback:

. . . reduce the size of the balcony seating and enclose the seating area. That will result in a 30-inch encroachment into the area of the 25-foot setback.

Lower the 10-inch signage on the west side of the building facing Shepherd Drive.

Will remove external LED lights on the west side of the building and turn off flashing security box lights inside the parking garage.

Variance . . . granted! The screencapture above shows the revised, enclosed balcony shown at the hearing, which will be a part of Tony and Jeff Vallone’s new Il Tavolo restaurant and wine bar.

Weingarten knows how to keep more than just a noisy upstairs wine-bar quiet, notes abc13’s Miya Shay:

Continue Reading This Story >

9:59 am | 11 Comments | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Development Restrictions, Development Strategy, Neighborhoods: River Oaks, Restaurants, Shopping Centers
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Thursday, December 18, 2008

A Line in the Vanished Sand

December 18, 2008 – 9:03 am
   

Galveston Planning Commissioner Chula Ross Sanchez, surveying damaged properties on the island 3 months after after Hurricane Ike: “The General Land Office (GLO) has drawn a new line in the sand four-and-half feet above sea level. People can stabilize their properties on the beach but we cannot issue new construction certificates in that zone. The line is normally based on vegetation but the storm wiped that out and the new line is based on mean sea levels. Drawing that line, many houses have ended up on public property.” [OffCite]

9:03 am | 2 Comments | Read more about Development Restrictions, Disaster Aftermath, Galveston, Quicklink
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The New River Oaks Shopping Center: Did Weingarten Step Over the Line?

December 10, 2008 – 2:48 pm

Weingarten had no problem tearing down the first part of the River Oaks Shopping Center last year. But when it decided to replace the historic curved building at the northeast corner of West Gray and Shepherd with the semi-curved, semi-modern confection shown here, did the company go too far?

According to the GHPA, Weingarten is now seeking a variance to allow it to keep changes it made to the approved plans for the building — which have already been built. From a website referred to in a GHPA email:

The restaurant’s balcony facing Shepherd encroaches into the mandatory setback, violating Houston City Setback Requirements. Once the City was notified of the encroachment, construction of the encroaching porch was stopped—temporarily. . . . Weingarten Realty has requested that the Planning Commission grant a variance to permit this encroaching porch. Without objections from concerned citizens like you, the City will likely grant the variance request.

That restaurant is Jeff and Tony Vallone’s planned new Il Tavolo. After the jump, a portion of the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance’s message:

Continue Reading This Story >

2:48 pm | 24 Comments | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Development Restrictions, Neighborhoods: River Oaks, Restaurants, Shopping Centers
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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Should Galveston Be Rebuilt?

September 24, 2008 – 4:41 pm
   

“The city and its environs rest on barrier islands, which are made of sand, low-lying and prone to significant geological shifts. In Galveston’s case, even before Ike’s landfall, the island was both sinking slowly and becoming sharply eroded along its west end. Moreover, a couple of years ago, the city itself commissioned University of Texas geologist Jim Gibeaut to create a geohazards map for the island, that is, where should development not occur? The research study found that nearly all the development along the beach front west of the seawall, which protects the core of the island, is in ‘red’ or ‘yellow’ zones, where Gibeaut says development should not occur.” [SciGuy]

4:41 pm | 6 Comments | Read more about Development Restrictions, Disaster Aftermath, Environmental, Flooding, Galveston, Hazards, Quicklink, Redevelopment
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Thousands Lost Their Homes. How Many Lost Their Land?

September 24, 2008 – 4:22 pm
   

With all the beach erosion, coastal homeowners may find their homes now sit on public property: “Even people whose coastal houses were spared by Hurricane Ike could see them condemned under a little-known Texas law, and hundreds whose beachfront homes were wrecked could be barred from rebuilding there. Now here’s the saltwater in the wound: It could be a year before the state tells these homeowners what they may or may not do. And if these homeowners do lose their beachfront property, they may get no compensation from the state.” [L.A. Times]

4:22 pm | 1 Comment | Read more about Development Restrictions, Disaster Aftermath, Galveston, Quicklink
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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Great Secret Billboard Repair Caper Begins

September 23, 2008 – 3:35 pm
   

Certain billboards grandfathered by city ordinance can’t legally be rebuilt after the hurricane: “For billboards, the city ordinance says that if the cost of repairing the weather damage is more than 60 percent of the cost of erecting a new sign, the billboard comes down. . . . [Scenic Houston program director Holly] Eaton said documenting weather damage is critical because ‘it’s one of the few ways we can get these things down.’ Showing the city the damage avoids ’sneaky, stealth-of-darkness repairs on signs that really should be coming down.’ She’d collected photos or notice of at least 20 billboards with significant problems by Monday afternoon.” [Houston Chronicle]

3:35 pm | 1 Comment | Read more about Development Restrictions, Disaster Aftermath, Quicklink
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Penthouse Stripped

September 10, 2008 – 10:15 am
   

The Penthouse Club at 2618 Winrock has been closed by court order — the first such action stemming from Houston’s 11-year-old sexually oriented business ordinance: “State District Judge Mark Davidson issued a temporary injunction Tuesday afternoon and ordered the club to shut down immediately. A trial in which the city will argue for permanent closure is set for Oct. 27. Davidson’s order is a major victory for the city, which has spent more than $1.2 million defending the ordinance against challenges by adult-oriented businesses, said attorney Patrick Zummo, hired by the city to help it enforce the law. ‘It means that this ordinance that we fought so hard to pass and prove constitutional, that it will actually work,’ Zummo said. ‘We’re not through. We’re looking at other locations around The Penthouse.’” [Houston Chronicle]

10:15 am | Add a Comment | Read more about Development Restrictions, Neighborhoods: Briargrove, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Quicklink
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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Ashby Highrise: Down to a Loading Dock?

September 3, 2008 – 12:49 pm
   

Buckhead Investments has resubmitted plans for the proposed Ashby Highrise for the single permit standing in the way of construction. “[Developer Matthew] Morgan said the developers have asked for a variance concerning the design’s loading dock, adding that ‘plenty of examples’ of similar configurations ‘can be found on thoroughfares and collector streets’ in the area. One example he cited is the new high-end, 236-unit apartment complex called Fairmont Museum District at 4310 Dunlavy St. ‘It seems to have loading docks that you can’t pull through,’ Morgan said. ‘Dunlavy is a collector street. We don’t feel like the same criteria was used.’ [West University Examiner; previously]

12:49 pm | 5 Comments | Read more about Apartments, Condos, Development Restrictions, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Boulevard Oaks, Neighborhoods: Southampton, Proposed Developments, Quicklink
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Friday, July 25, 2008

Back in the Waterway, Everyone!

July 25, 2008 – 2:07 pm
   

City Council voted earlier this week to relax restrictions on the construction and renovation of homes in frequently flooded areas. The restrictions had been enacted quietly 2 years ago and protested by floodway residents ever since. “Under the revised rules, permits for construction on vacant land in floodways will be issued only if the building uses a pier and beam rather than a slab foundation, and if the applicant pays for any necessary mitigation, [deputy public works director Andy] Icken said.” [Houston Chronicle]

2:07 pm | 1 Comment | Read more about Development Restrictions, Environmental, Flooding, Quicklink
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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Ashby Highrise: One Permit Away from Approval

July 2, 2008 – 11:38 am
   

“Having cleared six of seven departmental reviews, dating back July 30, the project only lacks clearance from Public Works and Engineering’s traffic section.” Developer Matthew Morgan says Buckhead Investment Partners will address four outstanding traffic concerns and resubmit the project for approval soon. [West University Examiner; previously]

11:38 am | 72 Comments | Read more about Apartments, Condos, Development Restrictions, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Boulevard Oaks, Neighborhoods: Southampton, Proposed Developments, Quicklink
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

That Enormous Parking Garage Behind the River Oaks Shopping Center

May 21, 2008 – 2:31 pm

Landscape Plan for River Oaks Shopping Center

In case it hadn’t already become obvious from watching the construction, that uh . . . “stealth” four-level parking garage in back is the real game-changer for the River Oaks Shopping Center.

Clearly, what’s unfolding is a strategy even more ingenious than anyone could have imagined. With a new monster garage looming behind the next targeted would-be landmark, Weingarten will soon have people begging it to rip down more of the north side of the center and build something taller, just to screen those four stories of cars from West Gray. Meanwhile, focusing attention on the complaints of a few pesky neighbors in back is a classic outrage-bait move. Throw in a little hush money to make sure those protests aren’t too loud, but then make sure news of the offer gets leaked, so the decoy works. Send in the demo crews, redevelop, and repeat!

The site plan above comes from a Weingarten variance request that will go before the Planning Commission on Thursday. The city’s landscape ordinance apparently requires the new development to switch out some of those existing sickly-but-iconic palm trees for live oaks. Naturally, Weingarten wants to save the palms!

River Oaks Shopping Center landscape plan: Heights Venture Architects, via Houston Planning Commission

2:31 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Development Restrictions, Development Strategy, Historic Preservation, Neighborhoods: River Oaks, New Construction, Parking, Shopping Centers, Trees
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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

This Used To Be Real Estate, Now It’s Only Fields and Trees

April 15, 2008 – 2:57 pm

Where, where is the town? Now, it’s nothing but flowers.

From a proposed amendment to the Houston’s development ordinance:

A plat restriction limiting the use to residential or single-family may be amended to permit the use of that property only for landscape, parks, recreation, drainage or open space.

I thought that we’d start over
But I guess I was wrong

Lyrics: Talking Heads

2:57 pm | Add a Comment | Read more about Development Restrictions, Parks, Redevelopment
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Friday, March 14, 2008

Sunset Heights: Will Not Subdivide

March 14, 2008 – 4:00 pm

Former Post Office at 2601 Baylor St., Sunset Heights, Houston

East Sunset Heights Methadone Clinic Ad

This Methadone Clinic graphic was posted today on the Medusa Properties website, and conveys in slightly different fashion the same news we received in our email from a Heights-area reader:

The oh-so-neighborly Mr. Jared Meadors did *not* receive the variance he requested for the Baylor St subdivision.

Photo of 2601 Baylor St. and Methadone Clinic Graphic: Medusa Properties

4:00 pm | 6 Comments | Read more about Development Restrictions, Development Strategy, Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Sunset Heights, Proposed Developments, Renovations
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Thursday, March 13, 2008

A Sunset Heights Lot Size Turf War

March 13, 2008 – 6:23 pm

Former Post Office at 2601 Baylor St., Sunset Heights, Houston

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!

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6:23 pm | 11 Comments | Read more about Development Restrictions, Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Sunset Heights, Proposed Developments, Renovations
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Monday, February 18, 2008

Ashby Highrise Developers: How To Build Smaller While Keeping Profits Big

February 18, 2008 – 5:05 pm

Townhouses at Ashby, 1717 Bissonnet, Ashby Highrise, Houston

How do you reduce development in . . . uh, sensitive Houston neighborhoods — without imposing new regulations?

It can be done! A free market provides its own land-use controls.

Matthew Morgan and Kevin Kirton of Buckhead Investment Partners, developers of the proposed 23-story residential highrise at the corner of Ashby and Bissonnet, show how it can work:

In the Feb. 5 meeting, Morgan and Kirton offered to reduce the size of their building to 19 stories or to build a six-story project while accepting a $2.65 million payment to recoup their investment.

Street-level view of proposed Ashby Townhomes, 1717 Bissonnet: Buckhead Investment Partners

5:05 pm | Read more about Development Restrictions, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Boulevard Oaks, Neighborhoods: Southampton, Proposed Developments
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