The Regulation & Development Committee, chaired by Council Member Toni Lawrence, met on Monday, July 21 to hear recommendations from the High Density Stakeholder Committee.   Andy Icken,  deputy director for Planning and Development, reported that instead of creating a new ordinance, the city will rely on the authority of Chapter 40.86 (the Curb Cut Ordinance) with the addition of guidelines to the city’s Infrastructure Design Manual, Chapter 15.

Mr. Icken cited the following advantages of this recommendation:

• Provides guidance to developers but retains judicious professional judgment
• Guidelines reduce widely divergent variances when staff or circumstances change
• Allow collaborative efforts between the City…

continue reading.....

Since our last communication, plans for the 23-story 1717 Bissonnet project were resubmitted to the city for the fifth time and for the fifth time permitting approval was not granted. Despite the apparent enthusiasm of the developers in obtaining “partial approval,” this project cannot be permitted until ALL criteria are met.

The plans were rejected pursuant to existing City of Houston policies that regulate vehicle and delivery access to the proposed project. The City has urged the developers to redesign their project to reduce the vehicle impact on Bissonnet and Ashby streets.

At this point, the City appears resolute in…

continue reading.....