The overview
The concepts—which the city's Livable Places committee has been looking into for the past six months—include amending current ordinances to allow for more midlevel housing, specifically more street parking and water retention on public rights of way. These recommendations were approved by the Houston Planning Commission on June 8.
Under the current standards in the city's code, the planning department is "obligated" to approve proposals for a series of homes with front-facing garages and driveways spanning the length of the lots, Planning Department Director Margaret Wallace Brown said. The ordinance would set standards to improve walkability and drainage, as well as neighborhood safety, she said.
Sorting out the details
Market-based parking—which would lower parking requirements at developments in certain areas based on their distance from public transit—is no longer being considered as part of the amendment. Also no longer being considered: Y-shaped driveways shared between two neighbors. Flag lots and other forms of shared driveways are still being considered.
"After six months of engagement with neighborhoods, and many of you, we recognize that we do not have sufficient support to move that proposal forward at this time," Brown said of market-based parking at the hearing. "We would like to regroup and come back to council with a comprehensive look at our parking regulations in the future."
Those in favor
"I'm probably one of the few people here who supports all of the initiatives and the work that the planning department has done," said Garland Harris Jr., a real estate developer in Houston and the owner of Middle Housing Design Co. "I can tell you building townhouses and front-loaders and duplexes has gotten pretty costly for us. But if we're able to come in and build things like tiny houses or fourplexes or triplexes, we can meet a market that most people here don't even think exists."
Those opposed
Erica Alvarado, a real estate agent, was one of several speakers in opposition of the changes.
"Most of my first-time homebuyers looking to move to the city are trying to find something that's more conventional, meaning private drives, first-floor living, and they will sacrifice the square footage if it means it aligns with the floor plan they're used to in the suburbs," she said.
Quote of note
"We're building a city for the future and not for yesterday, and many people are looking at this from yesterday's lens. This is not the city of 20 or 30 years ago; this city is densifying," Mayor Sylvester Turner said.
What's next
The council could vote on amending the language on these housing ordinances to allow for more of these types of housing as early as June 28.
