Ashby High Rise stripped of mixed use

City issues building permits

Jay Blazek Crossley, Aug 24, 09.

UPDATE: Andrew Burleson has written a proposal for solving the issues faced in considering the Ashby High Rise at his blog, NeoHouston. Also, as noted at the Houston Chronicle Houston Politics blog and the Houston Press Hair Balls blog, Gene Locke has released a statement on the Ashby High Rise issues.

Followed quickly by a flurry of blog posts, news stories and a reportedly renewed community protest effort, the City of Houston has issued permits to developer, Buckhead Investment Partners, to build the controversial Ashby High Rise project. Residents in the neighborhood have staged a massive campaign against the development project based on a variety of concerns that the project will diminish their quality of life.

The controversy triggered a planning department effort (ppt) including stakeholder meetings and various proposals to develop new ways for the City to be involved in guiding development. This effort led to the development of a new organization called Houstonians for Responsible Growth, who recently pointed out to City Council that new provisions in the City Design Manual, a product of this planning process, might conflict with the Urban Corridors ordinance Urban Corridors ordinance.

While this process was taking place, the developer agreed to put the project on hold as the Mayor tried to forge a new regulatory scheme. The City eventually chose not to use a new regulatory structure, but to use existing statute to address the concerns, and then the developer subsequently submitted the project eleven times for the necessary permits. The plan was rejected by the City of Houston, then altered and resubmitted by the developer, and finally approved by the City this eleventh time. As a result of this process, the developer has reportedly cut the mixed-use aspects out of the plan and reduced the density of the project to ease City of Houston concerns about traffic on local streets. Blogger Tory Gattis voices the opinion that this end result is a “lose-lose” situation: “now the neighborhood loses the convenient, walkable retail part of the project (including a potential Whole Foods) but still ends up with the tower.”

Mayoral Candidate and City Controller Annise Parker quickly published a press release following the City’s actions which suggest that she would pursue some of the tools that Mayor White has used in this process, but making it clear that she is upset with the outcome.

Mayoral Candidate and City Council Member Peter Brown tweeted that “today’s news about the Ashby Highrise shows the need for effective incentives and outcomes-based ordinances to protect our neighborhoods” followed by a longer statement on his website.

As of yet, there do not appear to be statements on the Ashby High Rise from Roy Morales or Gene Locke.

At the Rice Design Alliance Mayoral Forum on July 24, 2009, the candidates were asked about how the City could have dealt differently with the Ashby High Rise controversy, shown in this YouTube clip.