Architect Peter Brown has a lead in the polls for the Houston mayoral race as early voting closes. In regards to the built environment, Brown has advocated for form-based codes. Annise Parker is known for preservation efforts. Gene Locke has talked about investing in underdeveloped areas. Christof Spieler analyzes them using a growth and planning grid.
Also, the Rice Solar Decathlon Team placed in the top ten of the international competition held on the National Mall. This piece on the AIA website discusses the house thoroughly and compares it with the University of Louisiana-Lafayette entry.
Friday October 30
Big plan for an Ike-worn Isle icon: Proposal worth $15 million would give Flagship a carnival-like feel [Houston Chronicle] "In the proposal now on the table, Landry's outlines plans to install a 'stunning pool with an outdoor bar, cabanas and a lower sundeck jutting out over the Gulf.' The Ferris wheel and related attractions will be located in the area now occupied by the hotel's pool."
Thursday October 29
Disaster aid to help to rebuild complex: Owner wants to overhaul complex, area [Houston Chronicle] This story details the use of post-hurricane and stimulus funds to rehabilitate apartment complexes around Fondren, Gulfton, and elsewhere.
Greenway project adds land to conservation effort: Four major tracts will benefit recreation project [Houston Chronicle] "Montgomery and Harris counties are collaborating on a project to create the largest linear park in the Houston area, which will stretch 33 miles between FM 2978 in Spring and U.S. 59 in Humble."
Wednesday October 28
MAYORAL RACE Flooding is an issue with no cheap solution [Houston Chronicle]
Tuesday October 27
State suing to shut plants while fatal incidents probed: Workers have died in waste facilities here and in Port Arthur [Houston Chronicle] The saga of the waste facility seen on the RDA house tour behind Grace Lane continues.
Monday October 26
MOVE IT! Stimulus funds may get shuffled because of lower costs, deadlines [Houston Chronicle]
The economic stimulus deck is getting reshuffled. Road projects that were once slated to get millions of dollars - like the controversial Segment E of the Grand Parkway - might not be ready before the federal deadline.
In Segment E's case, that's because the road would cut through an undeveloped swath of the Katy Prairie, and both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department are opposing a needed wetlands permit.
Harris County Commissioners will vote tomorrow to formally ask TxDOT to send the money elsewhere. That could release $181 million for other projects in our eight-county area....
At the top of the list: $15 million for pedestrian and transit goodies like sidewalks, curb cuts, medians, bus and rail stops for three redeveloping areas of Houston - Upper Kirby, Uptown and the East End Management District.
Researchers find a natural solution to unnatural grass: Blend of native grasses shows promise for drought-resistant lawns "Using satellite mapping, NASA research scientist Cristina Milesi found that some 40 million acres of the U.S. and up to 5 percent of urban areas, are covered by lawns, making turf the country's largest irrigated crop."
Sunday October 25
Next mayor will inherit next era of protecting coast: Proposals include longer Seawall, ‘Ike Dike' and limits for development [Houston Chronicle] "'I'm willing to consider all proposals, but I don't believe this [Ike Dike] is the best way to approach the issue,' [Peter] Brown said. 'Natural barriers are cheaper to maintain, effective, and have ancillary benefits in terms of tourism and protecting our natural resources.' ... [Annise] Parker said governments should consider drawing the line on further development by no longer insuring it."
Project in southern part of downtown is quashed: Group pushed for complex with low-income units to go elsewhere [Houston Chronicle] "After running into resistance from the group - recently formed to help steer development in the southwest quadrant of downtown - Stephan Fairfield of Covenant Neighborhoods pulled out of a deal to buy a half-block on Main at Leeland. He was planning a mixed-use real estate development with a supportive housing component on the site."
Wilshire Village land [Houston Chronicle] "'We would consider an outright sale if the appropriate user was identified,' owner Matt Dilick of Commerce Equities said. There's still a chance Dilick will build something on the land. He said a townhome development could be the right use at this time. Previously he had considered putting a residential tower on the site."
A steady number of Texas and U.S. households are home to several branches of the family tree [Houston Chronicle] "Eve said economics was a driving factor then, just like it is now. It's a trend not lost on developers. Some home builders are starting to design with multigenerational families in mind, real estate agents said. Builders are designing floor plans with two master suites."
Friday October 23
A pilot program will allow Houstonians to turn trash into cash-saving rewards [Houston Chronicle] Starting Nov. 9, the 22,000 households in eight target neighborhoods that already participate in Houston's single-stream recycling program with 96-gallon green containers will also be the first to have an opportunity to enroll in the incentive program, which can yield up to $450 in credits over a year. If it's successful, the incentive program will expand, along with single-stream pickup, to an additional 50,000 households...A chip implanted in the city container and read during the pickup process will track the amount of recyclables from each household. Participants will open an account with RecycleBank, which will compile and reward points that can be cashed in with participating businesses. The cost of the program is underwritten by corporate sponsors and grants. Users also have the option of donating their credits to schools or community organizations."
Thursday October 22
Green building takes root: Environmentally sound designs influence where you live, work and play [Houston Chronicle] Sysco Foods headquarters. Location: 1390 Enclave Parkway. A collective effort by lead architect HOK Houston, architect of record Kendall Heaton Associates and interior architect Kirksey, the 595,600-square-foot corporate office space is made of two glass, steel and cement towers, set side by side and connected by a pedestrian bridge."
Historic Heights church faces demolition [Houston Chronicle] "'In the Heart of the Heights/With a Heart for the Heights,' Immanuel Lutheran Church declares itself on its Web site.But the church recently posted its intention to demolish a building that, according to the National Register of Historic Places, helps give the Heights its distinctive character: the handsome old Gothic Revival church at the corner of 15th and Cortlandt, a red-brick exercise in buttresses and pointy windows."
Old Heights church may be facing demolition: Some object, but church can't afford restoration [Houston Chronicle]
LAKE HOUSTON Parks department earns ‘Award of Excellence' [Houston Chronicle] "The Houston Parks and Recreation Department, along with SWA Landscape Architects, has received the "Award of Excellence" by the Texas Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects for the Lake Houston Wilderness Park Master Plan."
EPA will backtrack, look again at refinery emission controls: Feds apparently swayed by White's claim that earlier rules used bad data [Houston Chronicle] "The EPA's acceptable health risk is generally one additional cancer case per 1 million people. In areas near a refinery, the agency allows 30 additional cases per million...While Wisconsin has one refinery and Texas has 30, the increased risk to Texans is more than 30 times the risk to Wisconsin's residents because of the concentration of facilities, White said in a letter to the EPA."
Condo tower's saga takes another turn: Consortium has control of Mosaic [Houston Chronicle]
Wednesday October 21
With new recycling program, participation pays: Residents who contribute can earn up to $450 a year in credits [Houston Chronicle] "Already, Houston is poised to expand the single-stream system to an additional 50,000 households with roughly $3 million in federal stimulus money, Hayes said."
Ashby developers push for original plan: They'll appear before city panel to appeal decision [Houston Chronicle]
They will ask for approval of a 23-story building at 1717 Bissonnet with more than 200 apartments, a restaurant, a spa, retail space and offices, which the city repeatedly said would worsen traffic congestion to unacceptable levels.
In August, the city approved modified plans that stripped out all of the commercial uses except the restaurant. The developers have not picked up the permit, however, and said Tuesday that they still want to build the original project.
"Removing these amenities completely contradicts' city officials' statements that they want new development inside (Loop 610) to create a ‘walkable Houston,' " the developers said. "Their action removes predictability from the development process and results in the loss of millions of dollars in value to our development; it deprives our neighbors of substantial amenities and the city of significant tax revenues."
Tuesday October 20
Political foursquare (and what it means for the mayor’s race) [Intermodality] Christof Spieler's post may leave you more confused about the Houston mayoral race than you started, but it is a clearer analysis of the mayoral race than any other I've seen. He writes, "The pro-planning pro-growth group finds an obvious candidate in Peter Brown. The pro-planning anti-growth group will tend towards Annise Parker, who talks in terms of historical preservation and neighborhood protection. The pro-growth anti-planning group won’t like either; they’ll prefer Gene Locke. And Roy Morales captures the anti-growth anti-planning contingent easily."
Monday October 19
HOUSTON VOTERS POLL Tough land-use law supported: Ashby high-rise controversy is cited for the apparent turnaround in public opinion [Houston Chronicle] "More than two-thirds of Houstonians are ready for tighter land-use restrictions in the wake of several high-profile conflicts between developers and neighborhoods in recent years, according to a Houston Chronicle poll. Out of 601 people surveyed between Oct. 12 and 15, 71 percent said they strongly or somewhat agree that "Houston should enact tougher land use restrictions."
Sunday October 18
Mayor of Houston: The Chronicle co-endorses Annise Parker and Gene Locke in the first round [Houston Chronicle]
MAYORAL RACE BROWN HAS EARLY BUT SLIGHT LEAD Parker is close on his heels, with Locke third and 36 percent of the voters undecided [Houston Chronicle] "According to the poll, Brown leads the field with 23.8 percent of the vote, followed by Parker with 19 percent, Locke with 13.1 percent, and Harris County Board of Education Trustee Roy Morales with 6.7 percent."
MAYORAL RACE A plan to guide the way the city grows: Candidates differ on new development in unzoned Houston [Houston Chronicle]
Annise Parker: Develop citywide deed restriction database; create "ultra-urban" development code category for neighborhoods such as Midtown.
Peter Brown: Simplify development code to make it "business-friendly;" enable planned development districts where property owners and developers could create their own codes.
Gene Locke: Make city's neighborhoods competitive with suburban ones; encourage "edge development" in underdeveloped areas.
....
Parker, a former neighborhood leader who went on to author neighborhood-protection ordinances when she served on the City Council, said the city should craft an ordinance that would move high-rise projects to the edges of neighborhoods on major thoroughfares or collector streets.
She acknowledged, however, that greater traffic capacity may not satisfy residents of adjacent neighborhoods.
"That project on Montrose Boulevard probably would make the neighbors just as unhappy in terms of quality of life, in terms of having something towering over their backyard," she said. "But in an unzoned city, where we have chosen to go a different route ... it's not a concern we can legitimately address with the tools and ordinances that we have."
Brown, an architect and urban planner, said Houston's development code should be revised to ensure that dense, new developments are sited in locations that have the streets, drainage and sewage capacity to support them. He suggested his professional background would help him broker compromises between developers and neighborhood leaders.
"I would sit down, as I have before, with a yellow tracing pad and come up with some ideas for how we could agree on a design," Brown said. "I believe we can be pro-development and pro-neighborhood. We can be pro-business and pro-planning. These things are not mutually exclusive."
Locke said that in addition to resolving conflicts, such as the one triggered by the Ashby development, the city should find ways to encourage new development in neighborhoods that are clamoring for it, such as those on Houston's northeast side.
Chinatown no longer: Neighborhood rebrands itself as EaDo - ‘east downtown' - as it undergoes a cultural shift with a new look and identity [Houston Chronicle] "The 'new Chinatown' blossomed along Bellaire Boulevard in the 1990s when many of Houston's Asian entrepreneurs relocated again for cheaper land."
New school for arts sought Group wants HISD facility in Theater District [Houston Chronicle]
100 years at Magnolia Park: The city's oldest Hispanic community marks major milestone [Houston Chronicle]
Saturday October 17
ARSON MYSTERY Sense of safety up in flames: Residents of the Heights are on edge after 15 fires [Houston Chronicle]
October 15
White's plan for housing bonus [Houston Chronicle] "Mayor Bill White on Wednesday yanked a proposal that would have given a $5,000 bonus to real estate agents whose clients buy homes subsidized by the city in depressed communities."
October 13
Grand Parkway's ‘E' never was ‘shovel-ready' [Houston Chronicle]
When Arthur Storey, executive director of Harris County's Public Infrastructure Department, recommended in a letter last week that commissioners give back the stimulus funding slated for Segment E, he cited delays in obtaining a federal permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Storey wrote, "In fact, because of conflicts over environmental impacts and mitigation, that permit may never be issued."
This is a bold statement. The permit isn't some extra string attached to federal money. It's a requirement for the project to move forward. No permit, no Segment E.
I asked Storey Monday if he was saying that such "conflicts" - specifically, critical reviews of and opposition to the permit application by both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department - could endanger the project.
"Sure," he said simply.
This is the reason, Storey said, he asked commissioners in his letter to re-evaluate other segments of the Grand Parkway project and review "overall funding priorities and constraints."
In the agencies' formal comments, submitted to the Corps, the state and federal wildlife agencies outlined serious concerns with the permit applications that went far beyond concern for, say, the blue-gray gnatcatcher.
The agencies maintained that the Harris County Toll Road Authority's proposals to mitigate the environmental impact of the Grand Parkway segment on the endangered ecosystem fell far short.
The agencies found that the county undervalued the Katy Prairie's crucial role in reducing flood damage. The proposed toll road could further degrade water quality in Lake Houston and Galveston Bay, in some cases, the federal agency stated, and lead to the demise of certain wildlife species.
Monday October 12
MAYORAL RACE: CANDIDATE PROFILE PETER BROWN Urban planner feels many small successes can make better city [Houston Chronicle] "Brown denies that he favors zoning, saying publicly that 'for better or for worse, it's too late for zoning in this city,' but he does favor what he calls an "outcomes-driven" development code to help protect neighborhoods from inappropriate development and degrading influences."
Sunday October 11
URBAN WOODSMEN Waste no tree: Woodworkers Clay Robinson and Brian Conner salvage wood no one else wants to create usable works of art [Houston Chronicle] "Developer Carol Isaak Barden discovered TruTimber at an acquaintance's house. A little wooden step by the bathtub, she says, was 'the most exquisite thing I'd ever seen.' The acquaintance told her about 'this guy named Brian' who'd made it. Carol immediately MapQuested TruTimber's address and drove over."
Saturday October 10
OSHA fines waste processor $207,800 in deadly accident [Houston Chronicle] "The fine levied against CES Environmental Services, announced Friday, followed an investigation into the Port Arthur operation that was begun when worker Charles B. Sittig was killed in an accident there in April."
Montrose? Planned? A great neighborhood, yes. But a great example of urban planning? "Planning can't take credit for the off-beat charms of Montrose. But without at least some planning - public, private or both - that unplanned charm may disappear."
New arts group emerges: Printmaking resource [Houston Chronicle]
