Tag Archives: density

It’s Chapter 42 week

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

We won’t know for years what the upcoming revisions to Chapter 42, the development and density codes in Houston, will mean to the city and its development and population patterns. There’s certainly a lot of hope that the changes will … Continue reading →

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How will Chapter 42 affect housing in Houston?

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Yes, we’re still talking about Chapter 42, the local development and density code. One of the goals of revamping Chapter 42 is to make it easier and more attractive to build mid-range housing in the city limits. How do we … Continue reading →

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Why we need flexibility in our parking regulations

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the story of Coltivare. As many of you know, we are in the process of opening Coltivare, our interpretation of an Italian-inspired, American, neighborhood restaurant, at the corner of White Oak and Arlington Streets. Undoubtedly, one of the most … Continue reading →

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Another reason why bike parking matters

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This comment of the day on Swamplot points out a salient fact about bike parking. In all honesty, I only ride my bike for fun with the family on the weekends. However, after a couple of very frustrating attempts to … Continue reading →

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One size does not fit all, parking regulations department

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This makes a lot of sense to me. A proposed rewrite of Houston’s off-street parking rules could allow some areas to alter the new requirements or ditch them altogether, part of what Mayor Annise Parker said is an effort to … Continue reading →

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City proposes bike parking alternatives

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Nice. Bicycle advocates are cheering a city proposal that would give businesses an incentive to offer bike parking and would require some properties to provide it for the first time, saying the ideas mark a cultural shift in Houston. “This … Continue reading →

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Alexan Heights update

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The developers of the Alexan Heights project on Yale will go before the Planning Commission tomorrow to get a variance that would remove a single-family restriction on part of the property. Some folks in the neighborhood have been petitioning against … Continue reading →

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The off-street parking debate

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I believe the new offstreet parking requirements that have been proposed and are being debated are at least as big a deal as the Chapter 42 revisions. We really need to get this right. Under the new rules, some eateries … Continue reading →

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Ready or not, here comes Chapter 42

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Changes are coming to Chapter 42, the section of Houston’s ordinances that deal with density and development, and to Chapter 26, the section on off-street parking for bars and restaurants and what have you. The revisions would allow neighborhoods to … Continue reading →

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Alexan Heights on Yale

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

If you live in my neck of the woods you’re probably interested in the news (via Swamplot) of the new apartment complex being planned for the empty lot on Yale between 6th and 7th. The RUDH January newsletter has details. … Continue reading →

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Chapter 42 is back

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This is going to be fun. Sprawling, boomtown Houston may be in for another battle over land use and development, this time driven by the most significant changes proposed to the city’s building rules in 13 years. The rewrite would … Continue reading →

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Council approves Washington Avenue parking benefit district

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see how this works. The Houston City Council on Wednesday formed a special parking district along Washington Avenue, intended to ease the woes associated with the bustling corridor’s mix of bars, restaurants and residential streets. The plan will add … Continue reading →

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On the Parking Benefit District

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

A proposed ordinance to create a parking benefit district in the Washington Avenue corridor was on Council’s agenda this week, but it was tagged and will wait a week while everyone gets up to speed on it. District C Council … Continue reading →

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Washington Avenue parking

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The city of Houston has been trying to tackle the problem of insufficient parking in the busy Washington Avenue entertainment corridor. What to do about Washington Avenue is Houston’s latest public policy discussion of what government’s role should be in … Continue reading →

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Why not a university?

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Tory Gattis has an interesting suggestion for that 136 acre tract of land east of downtown. This parcel of land could be the last opportunity for Houston to add a major college campus to the city.  We should consider something … Continue reading →

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A streetcar for the East End?

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

It could happen. As the once solidly industrial East End transforms with a 4-month-old soccer stadium, a light rail line under construction and the imminent sale of a 136-acre plot that could signal coming lofts and boutiques, boosters are studying … Continue reading →

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Ashby everywhere

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Nancy Sarnoff notes a trend. Homeowners in the Memorial area held a meeting last month in the lobby of a nearby medical office building to discuss what to do about a large apartment complex being planned in their neighborhood. They … Continue reading →

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What would you do with 136 acres near downtown?

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Something urban, mixed-use, and transit-oriented, one hopes. A rare opportunity lies in 136 acres just east of downtown Houston. The Buffalo Bayou-front parcel, a longtime industrial and office complex, went on the market earlier this summer – a move bayou … Continue reading →

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Discussing the Z word

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. The go-ahead for the Ashby high rise has left me feeling really depressed. If affluent residents with all their political and social connections can’t keep a 21-story skyscraper out of their bucolic … Continue reading →

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Still waiting on the new density rules

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

With all that went on last year in Houston, one item that had been on the table was a revision of Chapter 42, to redefine the rules about density and other codes for developers. The planned revisions never made it … Continue reading →

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A deluxe efficiency in the sky

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The hot trend in real estate is small apartments. Apartments in Houston are shrinking. As rents have gone up, developers have been building smaller units and a lot more of them to meet growing demand from apartment dwellers who want … Continue reading →

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Thinking outside the box on the city’s finances

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve seen the ideas generated by the Long Term Financial Management Task Force, which I thought lacked a certain amount of breadth to its perspective. Here’s a taste of what else might be out there to think about. Good Jobs … Continue reading →

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Chapter 42

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Other than the updated highrise ordinance, Council has not yet taken up the proposed revisions to the city’s planning code, also known as Chapter 42. That will be on the agenda soon, and the Chron has an overview of where … Continue reading →

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Council passes high rise ordinance

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

And with that, Council is done for the year. After four years of planning and discussion, the Houston City Council on Wednesday approved new restrictions on residential high rises. The restrictions, which passed after a failed proposal to delay a … Continue reading →

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Council taking up highrise ordinance

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

And the Chapter 42 overhaul gets underway as the revamped highrise ordinance makes it onto Council’s agenda. The proposed rules, inspired by a planned 23-story high rise at the corner of Ashby and Bissonnet, would require that buildings over 75 … Continue reading →

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Downtown suburbia

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Gray writes approvingly of a forthcoming urban development in Sugar Land. A far bigger project in the works is the Imperial, a 715-acre development that includes the site of the defunct Imperial Sugar refinery – the factory that built … Continue reading →

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Apartment boom coming

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I have many things to say about this. High occupancies and rising rents for apartments are driving a new wave of development in Houston’s high-end urban neighborhoods. More than 3,500 units in a dozen complexes are under construction primarily inside … Continue reading →

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Ashby rises again

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s baaaaaaaaack. The Ashby high-rise is making a comeback. The developers of the proposed luxury residential tower that has enraged residents of the upscale neighborhoods around it resubmitted construction plans to the city Wednesday, requesting another permit to start building … Continue reading →

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More on directing density

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We know that the city’s Planning Department is prepping a draft ordinance that would add some restrictions to highrise construction in parts of the city outside designated areas. Here’s the Chron story about it. The proposed ordinance was written in … Continue reading →

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Directing density

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This looks interesting. A new draft ordinance prepared by the city’s planning department aims to make it tougher to build tall buildings next to single-family homes. The proposal is called the High Density Ordinance, but many of its restrictions would … Continue reading →

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Downtown living

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

There are two things about this Chron story about the residential population of downtown that I find curious. Twenty-five years after the residential development of downtown Houston began in earnest, fewer than 4,500 people reside in the city’s central core, … Continue reading →

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New development planned for West Gray

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From Prime Property: West Gray may soon get a lot busier. Developers are proposing multi-story apartment complexes on two sites just a short distance apart along the largely retail roadway, which runs from River Oaks to downtown. Both developers are … Continue reading →

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The Census and Central Texas

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

While much of the focus post-Census will be on redistricting, the data it contains is fascinating and illuminating in its own right, absent any political context. This story about explosive growth in former small towns around Austin that now serve … Continue reading →

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You need more than more miles to get more riders

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The new 28-mile Green Line in Dallas has begun full service, and it is expected to add about 30,000 daily boardings, bringing DART’s total rail ridership to about 90,000 per day. That’s for 72 miles of rail lines, which is … Continue reading →

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