The details
The proposed changes to the UV-D zoning code look at how the city can make regulations more effective using current trends and the comprehensive plan, which was adopted and amended in 2024, according to previous Community Impact reporting.
Gary Mitchell, the city’s planning consultant, said the zoning code currently includes regulations such as requiring townhouses to have at least five dwellings together on adjacent lots. With the proposed changes, the city hopes to amend that to just three dwellings.
Another proposed change would lower the maximum building height for a planned development from 79 feet to 53 feet, with the Bellaire H-E-B on Bissonnet Street as an example of a development that is roughly 53 feet tall, Mitchell said.
Originally, the zoning code required that no more than 15% of the floor area in the UV-D district be used for a multifamily residential development’s building, but that requirement has now been removed, with Mitchell citing that the requirement was difficult to calculate and enforce.
The city is also looking to have townhomes, commercial and mixed-use developments add a minimum of 10-feet setback for all street-facing yards, which Mitchell said could provide outdoor seating for commercial buildings or landscaping.
However, street-facing yards for commercial and mixed-use developments along Bellaire Boulevard, Bissonnett Street or South Rice Avenue would need a minimum of 15 feet of setback.
Mitchell said other proposed changes include:
- Require hotels to be approved for a specific use permit.
- Remove by-right multifamily dwellings as part of a mixed-use development and relocate to planned development only.
- Decrease the maximum building height from 27 to 17 feet for single-family residential buildings that are 15 feet from district property lines, increasing one foot in height for every two additional feet away from said property lines.
- Allow a front yard to be 5% of the site depth in commercial and mixed-use developments with a site depth of less than 100 feet.
Bellaire created the UV-D zoning code in 2014, intended to reinforce the “small town” downtown feel desired by Bellaire residents, according to the city’s code of ordinances. The zoning district is also intended to reinforce greater pedestrian use, and give the city’s downtown area more urban characteristics such as narrower streets, wider sidewalks and on-street parking.
The UV-D zoning district runs from Bellaire Boulevard to Spruce Street and South Rice Avenue to Ferris Street, and includes the H-E-B and a former Randalls grocery store, according to the city’s zoning map.
Numerous changes to the zoning district were approved by City Council in May, according to the presentation.
For example, Mitchell said developers with proposed buildings greater than the 79-foot maximum no longer have to submit a separate specific use permit, and instead, additional building height will be considered during the planned development review.
Another approved change included removing development intensity bonuses. These bonuses were an incentive developed back in 2014 that provided developers with more maximum floor area ratio, called a FAR bonus, if certain requirements were met. One example was that commercial developments would receive a 10% FAR bonus if off-street parking isn’t next to a public street or sidewalk.
Other approved changes include:
- Remove the building height minimum requirement of 30 feet
- Allow drive-ins and drive-thrus on properties with a lot line within 100 feet of the rights-of-way of Bissonnet Street, Bellaire Boulevard or South Rice Avenue. Drive-thrus were previously not allowed
The proposed UV-D changes are expected to be under consideration at the Sept. 8 City Council meeting, City Manager Sharon Citino said.
