Houston to require fees from developers, spread funding for all parks in open space ordinance changes

Houston officials preliminarily voted to reassess how the open space ordinance funds and distribute park improvements across the city.

What happened

On June 2, the city’s Budget and Fiscal Affairs committee voted to advance proposed changes to the city’s open space ordinance. The open space ordinance provides parks, recreational amenities and open space for residential areas. It typically uses fees collected from developers to dedicate and maintain the parks.

One of the changes approved by the committee include making multifamily developments fee-only, instead of allowing a dedication of land or a fee-in-lieu. The current ordinance allows developers to create park space on their property, instead of paying a fee to the city for the fund. The proposed change is to comply with state law, city officials said. The fee will be $700 per unit, council member Sallie Alcorn said.

Council is also looking to increase that fee, but Alcorn said that will come at a later date.

“We’re going to have some stakeholder engagement, and we’re going to be talking to residents and people in the development community,” Alcorn said. “And I expect to be back with that aspect later in the summer.”

The max that the state will allow the fee to be increased to is $1,260, according to the parks department.

Another detail

Officials also approved using 30% of fees that are collected from developers to be used in different park sectors, instead of only in the sector from which it was collected directly, an issue that was previously discussed with council after finding out that of the 21 park sectors in the city, five bring in over $53 million, according to previous reporting from Community Impact.

Council member Joaquin Martinez said some areas need more help, but even in neighborhoods with a tax increment reinvestment zone, he said they might still need financial help and wanted to know what the guidelines are for the 30% to be spent.

He used the Upper Kirby area and compared it to Gulfgate as an example.

“Levy Park, that's a pretty rich TIRZ, and so they're able to do a lot more,” he said. “But, for example, Gulfgate TIRZ, ... to be able to really update a lot of the parks in that area, it's going to take a lot more time, and so we will need some extra help with this open parks fee.”

Something to note

Parks Director Kenneth Allen said City Council will have to approve any projects that use the funding.

“Every time we dip into the fund, we have to have council approval,” he said. “[It keeps] a record of what we requested and why.”

What’s next

Alcorn said the committee will discuss the increase in the fee later this summer. However, the recommended amendments were approved to move forward for City Council to vote on at a later unspecified date.