Anti-Ashby high-rise ordinance might not stop high-rise, pleases no one
The Chronicle's Mike Snyder reports that nobody seems very happy over the current status of legislation that Mayor White rushed forward in response to the demands of affluent political constituents:
The city of Houston's high-density development ordinance, the focus of intense lobbying and hundreds of hours of work over the past three months, doesn't satisfy either the development or neighborhood interests helping to write it.
A look at its latest version shows that the measure wouldn't stop the Ashby high-rise, the project that inspired it. It wouldn't apply to any other planned development project in Houston, although it might affect future projects. Some of the developers and neighborhood activists working on it say it has little value.
Late last week, city officials decided the measure needs additional work and delayed its presentation to the City Council for two weeks and perhaps as long as a month. The council had been expected to review the measure this week.
"It seems to me that the current draft is going to make no one happy," said Kendall Miller, a shopping center owner who serves on a committee advising the city about the ordinance.
Jane Cahill, a neighborhood activist who also serves on the panel, said the costs of enforcing the latest draft would far outweigh any benefits.
Cahill said she was dismayed to hear Andy Icken, a deputy city public works director, say recently that the ordinance represents a "rifle" rather than a "shotgun" approach to development issues.
"A rifle aims a single bullet at a single target," Cahill said. "Aiming an ordinance at a single project is not a good way to develop public policy."
No, it is not.
But certain well-connected constituents demanded that Mayor White jump, and jump he did. We happen to think the mayor is pretty shrewd -- maybe he figured all along that this approach wasn't going to be all that effective, but that he'd still get credit for trying.
BLOGVERSATION: Off the Kuff, Inside Central Houston.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/05/08 12:45 AM | Print |
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