- 2010 Weatherby Ln. [HAR]
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Fresno
You saw the video. Now comes the detail: OffCite has more on recent Rice University architecture grad Lysle Oliveros’s proposal for turning that putrid pile of garbage next door to Shadow Creek Ranch into an exciting outdoor playplace! The fun comes in 3 phases.
In phase 1, trash haulers would start a new pile with each year’s take, completing a mound every 12 months:
Each monument compared to the next would create an awareness of the massive amount of disposed consumer goods. For example, the 2008 “index†created by Hurricane Ike debris would have been 400 feet tall.
Too bad about the City of Pearland’s recent agreement with Republic Services limiting those piles to a mere 130 ft. Oh, well — just wait until 2029!
Shadow Creek Ranch residents worried that the Blue Ridge Landfill just across FM 521 would turn into a 170-ft.-tall mountain of smelly garbage can breathe deeply again, now that the City of Pearland has reached a settlement agreement with the landfill’s operator, Republic Services (formerly Allied Waste).
Among the most important changes: the landfill will be limited to its current height of 60 ft. for 12 more years. Will that be enough time for Shadow Creek Ranch’s homebuilders and Las Vegas developers to sell off whatever remaining inventory they own in the master-planned community? After that, the pile of trash will be restricted to hillock status, at 130 ft. tall — “for an additional 8 years.”
Also good for home sales: Garbage trucks will be banned from using Shadow Creek Parkway west of FM 521!
More details of the agreement from City Attorney Darrin Coker, quoted in The Journal of Pearland:
That gonna-be-170-ft.-high pile of trash going up across the street from Shadow Creek Ranch? Nothing a little smart landscaping can’t handle. Rice architecture grad student Lysle Oliveros’s proposal for the Blue Ridge Landfill makes for a rockin’ video. And Houston needs a mountain, anyway.
- Houston Needs a Mountain [Vimeo]
- 2008 Winners [Rice Design Alliance]
- Previously in Swamplot: Raising a Bigger Stink: Shadow Creek Ranch Residents Still Fighting 170-Foot Uphill Battle, Hurricane Detection System To Be Blocked by 170-Foot-High Pile of Garbage
Video: Richie Gelles
To counter the all-shutterings edition of Openings and Closings posted on Swamplot earlier this week, here’s a mostly debuts version:
- Opening: With the opening of Bryan Caswell’s Little Big’s, Montrose’s late-night restaurant row is complete — at least on weekends, when the burger shack will be open until 3 a.m. Writes Katharine Shilcutt in Eating Our Words:
In addition to sliders, fries and shakes, Little Big’s also offers wine and beer at extremely reasonable prices, which will all but ensure their popularity. Once the large, welcoming patio is completed, it’s a sure bet that this will be the new hot spot in Montrose.
This Little Big’s is in the former Ming’s Cafe on Montrose just north of Westheimer; the next one will be in Hermann Park.
There’s more!
