City council today gave a long-awaited thumbs-up to a new regime of amendments to its development ordinance, known as Chapter 42. Among the many changes: a new, higher upper limit on townhome density for the huge donut of land bounded by Loop 610 and Beltway 8. Developers will now be able to squeeze them in at a rate of 27 units per acre, matching the allowed density in the Inner Loop. [Planning and Development; previously on Swamplot]
Read more about: City Council, Development Regulations
A reader is hoping to get a handle on the current state of City of Houston regulations regarding prefab homes: “As far as I can tell, the current law [PDF] makes mod ‘designer’ prefabs clearly illegal, except in a designated ‘modular home subdivision’ (with a few other minor exceptions). Those that have been built so far are flouting the law, given that the intent of it was to keep out trailer parks, not Dwellians. But I’ve heard that maybe these rules have been amended? Inquiring minds want to know!’” [Swamplot inbox] Photo: FlatPak
Read more about: Development Regulations, Prefab Homes
November 6, 2012 – 3:46 pm
The Canadian developers behind an on-again-off-again 84-unit condo project planned for a 1.4-acre wooded property at the end of E. 5th St. adjacent to the Heights hike-and-bike trail have withdrawn their variance request to build a private street for a new Emes Place subdivision. But neighborhood opponents of the project, called Viewpoint at the Heights, may like Group LSR’s newest plans less than the ones they had been fighting against. The Planning Department’s Suzy Hartgrove tells the Leader’s Charlotte Aguilar that the developers of the Serento and Piedmont at River Oaks now plan to construct a public street over a bridge and build their own cul de sac. The latest plans make no mention of the size of condo the company is proposing. And if the new design meets city standards, the city’s planning commission wouldn’t have an opportunity to require any site changes on the project when it comes up for approval this Thursday.
Photos: Swamplot inbox (site and trail); Charlotte Aguilar/The Leader (variance sign)
Read more about: 77007, Condos, Development Regulations, Freeland Historic District, Houston Heights, Houston Planning Commission, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Variances
October 18, 2012 – 12:51 pm
“Can a developer who buys an apartment building (or duplex, four-plex, etc.) simply ignore an existing lease’s terms and give 30 days notice before knocking it down to build something new? Half the real estate developer/lawyer types I know have told me ‘no way.’ They say a contract is a contract and the new owner has to abide by that and let you live out the lease or offer a buyout. But the other half say there’s a loophole in Houston permitting that says if the new owner plans to tear down the building, once they have their variance granted, they can ignore the lease terms and just give 30 days notice to move out. Help! Do you have the definitive answer?” [Swamplot inbox]
Read more about: Apartments, Demolitions, Development Regulations, Evictions, Leasing
September 21, 2012 – 1:55 pm
Why is Houston the only major city in the country that bans propane-equipped food trucks from operating Downtown — and one of the few that prohibits all food trucks from serving near seating areas or even setting up their own chairs for customers? A few clues appear in Katherine Shilcutt’s fascinating account of Tuesday’s city hearing, during which council members expressed a few concerns: that food-truck purveyors might be selling “other items” on the sly, or that there might not be a sufficient number of city inspectors to police the existing fleet. But, Shilcutt reports, “The questions got even stranger when Council Member Andrew Burks began hinting at the possibility of terrorists using food trucks’ propane tanks as weapons, a comment that prompted laughter from the audience.”
The possibility of overfueled taco trucks blowing up Downtown Houston, however, wasn’t the only frightening specter Burks conjured up before the mostly mobile-food-friendly crowd:
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Read more about: City Council, Development Regulations, Development Restrictions, Food Trucks, Mobile Food Vendors, Public Safety, Restaurants
September 6, 2012 – 9:47 am
A collective formed by more than 2 dozen food-truck operators plans to roll on city hall later this month — to present the mayor and council members with a list of proposed changes to city ordinances, fire code, and health regulations that restrict where and how Houston’s growing fleet of mobile food units can operate. The changes promoted by Mobile Food Unit Houston would get rid of current rules requiring food trucks and trailers to park more than 60 ft. away from each other, allow a single propane permit to cover multiple locations, and lift the ban on using propane fuel in the Med Center and Downtown. The changes would also allow their customers to sit down, lifting current rules that prohibit the sale of food-truck food near seating areas and letting them to set up limited numbers of tables and chairs on their own. [Mobile Food Unit Houston; previously on Swamplot]
Read more about: Development Regulations, Food Trucks, Mobile Food Vendors, Public Safety, Restaurants
Although it’s been collecting drainage fees from property owners for a year, the city of Houston still has yet to begin collecting a parallel funding source for its new ReBuild Houston infrastructure program. A deputy director of public works admitted in a meeting last week that a promised developer impact fee — one of 4 sources of funding established for street and drainage improvements — has not yet been put in place. Fees from developers are meant to pay for measures that would offset the effects of future development on flooding and street capacity, according to a city website describing the program. [The Leader]
Read more about: Development Regulations, Drainage, Utilities
Expect to see workers moving dirt on the 1.5-acre site at the northeast corner of Greenbriar and 59 within the next few weeks; the city’s planning commission last week voted to approve a variance granting permission for a 7-story auto dealership building at 2120 Southwest Fwy. to poke a few feet further toward Greenbriar (at left in the above rendering) than regulations allow. The result: the country’s largest — and tallest — flagship Audi dealership, featuring a 2-story car display case on the corner of the third and fourth levels that’ll bring the latest models up to eye level for drivers on the raised freeway who aren’t looking where they’re going.
More views:
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Read more about: 77098, Auto Dealerships, Development Regulations, Feeder Roads, Proposed Developments, Upper Kirby, Variances
April 24, 2012 – 11:36 am
A North Carolina company that already operates 18 car dealers in the Houston area plans to build the largest “flagship” Audi dealership in the U.S. on the north side of Hwy. 59 just east of Greenbriar. The dealership would consist of a 7-story building fronting the Southwest Freeway and containing offices, parts and service departments, a parking garage, and a ground-floor showroom. A more dramatic showroom, though, will be on the top floors, where drivers stuck in freeway traffic can ogle recent Audi models parked on display. A fenced-in parking lot for 87 cars would sit behind the building on the north side of Lexington St.
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Read more about: 77098, Auto Dealerships, Development Regulations, Proposed Developments, Upper Kirby, Variances
April 17, 2012 – 10:48 am
“Walking the sidewalks in the Heights is sometimes tricky,” quips the reader who sent in this pic of the year-or-so-old sidewalk in front of the year–or-so-old house at 919 Arlington St.: “This walk is built to the 5′-0″ standards currently in place where as the older walks are built at 4′. However the alignment was so off from the 2′ distance required from the property line location of the other residents’ walks. I could only assume that the developer was thinking that he could allow more room to park a car between the street and walk if he shifted it west two feet.” Photo: Swamplot inbox
Read more about: 77008, Construction Problems, Development Regulations, Houston Heights, Sidewalks, Streetscapes
Whenever it gets around to reopening as a brewery, Second Ward hotdog HQ Moon Tower Inn will still have only a single off-street parking spot — thanks to an accommodation agreed to by the planning commission. Owner Evan Shannon agreed to provide rack space for 40 bicycles instead of the 5 additional car spaces that would have otherwise been required at 3004 Canal St. Helpful in securing the exception from the city: a few bike-riding employees — and plenty of on-street parking in the food stand’s mostly industrial neighborhood. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Marty E.
Read more about: 77003, Bars, Bicycles, Breweries, Development Regulations, Parking, Restaurants, Second Ward
March 13, 2012 – 11:35 am
Neighborhood residents hoping to weigh in on the details of the proposed settlement announced 2 weeks ago in the lawsuit filed against the city of Houston by the developers of the proposed Ashby Highrise were greeted at last night’s meeting with Mayor Parker with news that the agreement had already been finalized. The settlement requires the city to approve and permit a 21-story mixed-use tower at 1717 Bissonnet St., as long as the predicted traffic it generates meets a few prescribed limits. The agreement also puts a few restrictions on traffic flows in and out of the building on separate driveways facing Bissonnet and Ashby St., and requires developers to build an 8-ft. fence and camouflage the 5-story parking garage behind it with greenery where the building backs up against homes on its south and east sides. Also included: some lighting and noise-mitigation requirements, and a free morning and afternoon weekday shuttle service for the project’s future residents to and from the Med Center.
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Read more about: 77005, Apartments, Ashby Highrise, Boulevard-Oaks, Development Regulations, Development Restrictions, Highrises, Lawsuits, Mayor Parker, Mixed Use, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Southampton
In a letter sent to Southampton residents, Mayor Parker says she is recommending that the city settle the lawsuit filed against it by the developers of the proposed Ashby Highrise. “Unfortunately, the city has no legal basis for stopping” the building from being constructed, she writes: “Even success in the courtroom in the City’s litigation against the developers . . . would not halt the project, since the developers would still be able to proceed with their current permit application, which mirrors that which the city was compelled to approve in 2009.”
Instead, Parker writes that the settlement will allow the city to “ensure some control” over certain aspects of the multi-story residential tower: “It will also eliminate any possibility that the developers can build a project as large as that sought in 2007, or that the City may be subject to damages for its failure to approve that permit applications, either of which can happen if the City loses the current litigation.”
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Read more about: 77005, Ashby Highrise, Boulevard-Oaks, Development Regulations, Highrises, Lawsuits, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Southampton
Comment of the Day: Here Come the GOOF-y Townhouses
“The revisions to Chapter 42 mean that the fringes of Oak Forest, Garden Oaks and Spring Branch can be built up with lots of townhomes and other inner loop-esque density. Given that you now have to shell out $500-$800k to live in OF, GO or many parts of Spring Branch, I would bet that, all things constant, this listing would be seen as a steal in five to ten years . . .” [Old School, commenting on Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: Number 1, Fan]