Name: City plan could mean more 'walkable' neighborhoods for Houston
Brand: houstonchronicle.com
SKU: houstonchronicle-com-247
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

City plan could mean more 'walkable' neighborhoods for Houston

preview

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateAfter more than three years of study, the city is poised to adopt new regulations aimed at fostering more “walkable” neighborhoods, easing Houston’s overwhelming reliance on automobiles and directing more residents toward a growing transit system.City council is set to vote Wednesday on a that would bring buildings closer to the street, force parking lots to the side or behind buildings, expand sidewalks, and require “buffer” zones between sidewalks and the road. The ordinances would apply to new buildings and redevelopment only in certain parts of the city.The ordinances would create two distinct programs: areas with a , where the city seeks to foster pedestrian-friendly development; and areas in the , where the city hopes to bring the same principles to most streets that fall within a half-mile of a bus or train station.Mayor Sylvester Turner called the plan an effort to modernize Houston and move away from the city’s automobile-oriented planning of the 1990s. Failing to do so, he said, would stifle the city’s growth.“I am a strong believer that we cannot design a city for yesterday,” Turner said. “If we do that, we have failed.”While the underlying regulations are similar, the “Walkable Places” program initially will take shape in three pilot projects, including Emancipation Avenue, Midtown, and Hogan and Lorraine Streets in the Near Northside. Other areas would be able to pursue a “Walkable Places” designation if a majority of property owners support it. City council will have final say over all such designations.The “Transit-Oriented Development” program will apply to areas across the city that are close to transit stops. Streets where more than half of developments are single-family residential buildings would be exempt.If adopted by council, the changes would take effect Oct. 1. For the streets covered by either program, the plan would undo many of the car-centered rules adopted in the 1990s. For example, under those rules, all development on major streets must be set back 25 feet from the road, which results in parking lots facing the streets. Businesses, whether they are in Midtown or Meyerland, must offer a prescribed number of parking spaces for customers. And sidewalks must be 5 feet wide.The new rules would waive the set-back requirement, bringing buildings closer to the road, and force parking lots to the side or behind new buildings. The transit-oriented development ordinance would cut or eliminate the number of parking spaces developments must provide, depending on the street.The new framework would see developers widen sidewalks to between six and 10 feet, and include a 4-foot “buffer” zone between the road and sidewalks to further protect pedestrians and cyclists. The ordinances also would limit the height of fencing in these areas to no more than four feet, and require that a certain percentage of commercial buildings’ ground floors be visible through doors or windows.“This makes doing the right things for pedestrians something that is easier, cheaper and faster for a property owner,” said Margaret Wallace Brown, the city’s planning director.James Llamas, a transportation engineer who served on the committee that drafted the plan, said the existing regulatory structure would make something like 19th Street in the Heights, or the lower section of Westheimer Road, unlikely today. Developers would have to seek “variances” from the planning department to build something similar now.The new ordinances would make such developments the norm, instead of an exception, in the areas where they apply, he said.“The type of walkable, urban building form that’s been the standard for cities for thousands of years was made illegal in Houston because of various planning decisions in past decades that were designed around making it easier to drive,” Llamas said.Bill Fulton, director of Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, said the organization’s annual survey shows many Houston-area residents have wanted this kind of development for years.Since 2007, the survey has asked Harris County residents whether they would rather live in a single-family residential area or a smaller, more urban home within walking distance of shops and other development. Respondents consistently have been split, Fulton said.More for you“That means the demand is ahead of supply. Fifty percent of the neighborhoods in Houston are not walkable,” Fulton said. “You’ve got to start somewhere. There’s clearly a demand for this type of living, even in Houston and even in this climate.”Still, the proposed rules have drawn some criticism. Civic leaders in Museum Park, which includes some streets in the transit-oriented development program, questioned whether moving buildings closer to the street will endanger the historic oak trees that line that neighborhood, and whether the looser parking requirements will lead to more cars outside their homes, according to Sandra Stevens, president of the Museum Park Neighborhood Alliance. There also is concern the new rules will spur more high-rise development, changing the character of the neighborhood altogether.“We don’t want to become a Midtown,” Stevens said. “We want to stay Museum Park.”Stevens said the association has asked for Museum Park to be omitted until those concerns are addressed.The city did insert language to say that tree canopy cannot be trimmed, though Stevens said that conflicts with other ordinances that allow owners to do so when it hangs over their property. The city is taking up some of the concerns in a new Livable Places Committee.Wallace Brown said several groups already have expressed interest in pursuing a “Walkable Places” designation for their neighborhoods.“Previously, there was very little emphasis put on making a safe and interesting place for Houstonians to walk,” she said.On Hogan Street, one of the three pilot projects, resident Mario Abelas said Tuesday that the most significant danger to pedestrians and bicyclists there is speeding cars. Abelas said the cars turning onto Hogan from Main Street go especially fast.“They don’t have any respect. Why are you driving so fast?” Abelas said. “There’s no reason.”Wallace Brown said the modifications to buildings there would result in slower car speeds, citing research she said showed drivers will slow down if they feel constrained by tighter streets.“It reduces the design speed of the road, even if it doesn’t change the speed limit,” she said.Chronicle photographer Mark Mulligan contributed to this report.dylan.mcguinness@chron.com

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateAfter more than three years of study, the city is poised to adopt new regulations aimed at fostering more “walkable” neighborhoods, easing Houston’s overwhelming reliance on automobiles and directing more residents toward a growing transit system.City council is set to vote Wednesday on a that would bring buildings closer to the street, force parking lots to the side or behind buildings, expand sidewalks, and require “buffer” zones between sidewalks and the road. The ordinances would apply to new buildings and redevelopment only...

City plan could mean more 'walkable' neighborhoods for Houston

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS