Houston Apartment Demand Picks Up; The Heights Design Guidelines Delay

Photo of Spring Branch: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines

8 Comment

  • I know Texas’ governor isn’t all that powerful, but man, can Abbott knock it off with all this right-wing virtue signalling? It’s embarrassing

  • Big government infringing on local government. Wait isn’t that what Greg Abbot was fighting against the whole time Obama was in office!!?? Oh the hypocrisy…. local communities know whats best for them, not Abbott..

  • Enjoy el mediocre Webster, nothing like paying $40 for $3 of skirt steak..

  • Re: Governor Abbott Tilting at Trees and Tree Lovers
    .
    Ditto on TMR’s comment: the Governor may have nothing to do but pick a fight with trees and their allies but he really should channel his weak gubernatorial power into something worthy of the office like reforming public education finance, increasing slightly the gas tax for Texas highways, or property tax reform.
    .
    I guess trees are more his speed since the Big Tree Lobby isn’t there to fight him.

  • The mayor needs to get creative if he expects to get more interest in the Hysteric District guideline creation…maybe offer free pizza and crafted beer at the next meeting.

  • Yea but… he is mad at the trees because one fell and put him in the wheelchair.

  • I live in the Heights historic district and while I will not be personally affected by the guidelines (my home is noncontributing, fully built, and I have no plans to expand), it is really ridiculous what they are proposing. They essentially want to create complex guidelines when really all you need are minimum offsets and height restrictions and don’t allow the subdivision of lots. If the average Houstonian ever attended one of these meetings with the HAHC they would vote out the Historic districts in a heartbeat. You can’t even replace your rotting wood paneled windows with energy efficient ones if you live in a historic structure. I have personally seen someone get rejected on this. Two doors down from me is an abandoned structure for over 8 years through three different owners, beyond repair, and they won’t let the current owner knock it down and build a nice single family home. Now they have taken incredibly restrictive guidelines and tried to push them through with no voting from the homeowners. Put it on the ballot and let’s see how popular this really is…

  • great new yorker article recently about abbott et al and all the wacky state politics:
    http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/10/americas-future-is-texas