Zoning? In Houston?

OK, who besides me saw today's front page story about St. George Place and said something like "Huh, I had no idea that there was anything called 'zoning' anywhere in Houston"?

The neighborhood is home to the first of Houston's 22 tax increment reinvestment zones, and the only zone for which the City Council has adopted a zoning ordinance.

[...]

The story of how zoning came to this small piece of Houston starts with developer Robert Silvers, who in the late 1980s started buying property in Lamar Terrace, a post-World War II subdivision that was succumbing to urban blight.

Residents had voted out the neighborhood's deed restrictions, in part because they expected the Galleria to expand westward and create a hot market for commercial property, said David Hawes, the executive director of the St. George Place zone.

As Silvers began planning to develop the property, a lawyer told him about tax increment reinvestment zones, districts where tax revenue from increased property values is reinvested in neighborhood improvements.

The lawyer advised Silvers that state law gave the districts created by petition the authority to adopt their own zoning rules.

"All of a sudden," Silvers recalled, "sugar plums were dancing in my head."

The City Council created the TIRZ in 1990 and passed the zoning ordinance three years later. Since then, a patchwork of vacant lots, dilapidated houses and piles of junk has become a thriving neighborhood of 388 new homes.

My reading of this is that since they had their zoning rules prior to the 1993 city referendum, they were effectively grandfathered in. I had no idea this was done. You learn something new every day, I guess.

As for the dispute itself, on which this front-page story is centered, I'm not sure that there's anything to it beyond the novelty of zoning that elevates it to such prominance.

Last week, the TIRZ's board narrowly rejected a developer's request to change the zoning designation for part of a 3-acre vacant site in the heart of St. George Place. The company, Rohe and Wright Builders, submitted plans calling for construction of 24 townhomes and 12 patio homes.

The zoning change was opposed by 326 residents, including leaders of the St. George Place Civic Association. They signed a petition urging the board to maintain the original zoning, which permits fewer homes and differs from the developer's plan in other respects.

Yet the vote by the TIRZ board was six in favor of the change, two opposed and one abstention - just short of the 75 percent supermajority required because of the petition.

[...]

Houston City Councilman Peter Brown, an architect and planner who helped write the zoning ordinance for St. George Place, said the rules were intended to be flexible. In this case, he said, the change would have produced a development that would benefit the neighborhood.

The strength of the residents' opposition, Brown said, might reflect lack of experience with zoning or other common planning tools.

"Because we don't have any significant development regulations," Brown said, "citizens are accustomed to fighting any change."

[...]

Silvers said zoning has been an important asset in selling homes in St. George Place. He supported the zoning change, however, and said many of the opponents may not have understood how zoning is supposed to work.

"They were just happy that nobody could put up junk next door to them," Silvers said.

Silvers said a high-quality development on the central site purchased by Rohe and Wright is important to the future of St. George Place.

[...]

Terry Rockwell, 63, a retired engineer who helped organize the petition drive against the zoning change, said the turnout and comments last week show that residents want to stick with the rules they have.

"I think the lesson that we learned is that while we all knew that the largely anonymous TIRZ board was in place, they don't necessarily represent our interests," Rockwell said. "We've found out we need to pay a lot closer attention to it."

ahem What we've got here is failure to communicate. Maybe the TIRZ board can spend a little bit more time explaining to the residents why this project is so super swell, at which point the residents can consider their fears assuaged, or they can decide it's time for some new TIRZ board members. Any questions?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on December 18, 2006 to Elsewhere in Houston | TrackBack