[Subdude]

City group votes today on variances for condos
Neighbors nix single-access plan for Heights area's 65-unit complex
By TOM MANNING
Chronicle Correspondent
RESOURCES
CONDO PROPOSAL

Group LSR and innerLoop condos are asking Houston's Planning Commission for variances.

• What : One variance request would allow the condos to be built with one point of access to and from the property.
• Where: Property is at intersection of 5th Street and Oxford in Woodland Heights.
• Objections: Area residents say having only one access point would be unsafe and the proposed project would limit access of emergency/fire vehicles and create backup parking problems on nearby streets.


Houston's Planning Commission is expected to vote today on a variance request by Group LSR and innerLoop condos that would essentially pave the way for a 65-unit mid-rise condominium complex at the intersection of 5th Street and Oxford in Woodland Heights.


InnerLoop Condos is hoping to build the condo units on 1.35 acres of land the company closed on for $1.5 million in October.

The property is located in the southeast corner of the Heights, adjacent to the White Oak Bayou floodway. Since innerLoop first proposed building condos on that site, area residents have argued that the adjoining neighborhood will not be able to control an increase in traffic flow brought on by the condos, and have raised safety and flooding concerns.

The variances requested by innerLoop deal with Chapter 42 of the city's Planning Standards.

InnerLoop is requesting variances that would allow it to build the condos with, among other things, only one point of access to and from the property.

Woodland Heights residents say that would put undue pressure on the surrounding neighborhood and create problems if and when emergency vehicles had to enter the condominium complex.

A denial by the commission to build that access way would essentially doom the project.

In requesting the variance, innerLoop and Group LSR can claim that not being allowed to do so would create an undue hardship and would prohibit them from "making reasonable use" of the property.

Group LSR and innerLoop's requests for variances have been deferred twice by the commission, once at the request of the developer and a second time to allow city staff to gather more information.

By law, the commission is now required to vote on the variances at today's meeting.

During the past four months, Heights residents have had numerous conversations with Louis Conrad, vice president of New Development and Planning for innerLoop, about the group's proposals.

"Louis has bent over backwards to attempt to answer our questions and to compromise to the extent that he can," said Mark Sterling, a Heights resident who has been heavily involved in the issue.

"InnerLoop never turned down a call from a concerned neighbor. In the end, it's nothing personal. They look at the project and see it as a valuable asset to the area. We look at the additional traffic and the other issues, and disagree."

Sterling said the idea that a condominium project could have just one entry and exit way for all of its units naturally means the surrounding area will bear the brunt of the increased traffic it brings.

Part of the single access way would be a bridge over a deep ravine located on the southwest portion of the property.

"The last site plan I saw has 20 percent of the property actually hanging over the ravine," Sterling said. "A development of this size is required to have two points of access. This doesn't.

"They also need to have enough space for a fire truck to be able to completely turn around, and they don't have that. When I went down to a fire station and showed them these drawings, the firefighters said there was no way they could fight a fire at that location."

Along with safety issues, Sterling said residents who live nearby are worried that parking requirements will not be adequate and any additional parking burden will be taken on by nearby streets that are already too narrow.

"City codes require them to have 97 parking spaces for a structure like the one they're proposing," he said. "If there is any spillover parking, it spills over that bridge and into the neighborhood."

Despite what residents feel are large enough concerns for the Planning Commission to deny innerLoop's requests for variances, Sterling said he believes the group will receive those variances and be able to move forward with the project.

"In the end, the planning staff is going to have to recommend approval with a whole bunch of conditions," he said. "But once the approval is given, the neighbors are out of the loop.

"If the Planning Commission didn't have the reputation as a rubber stamp, people like innerLoop wouldn't automatically assume they'd get every variance they apply for."

At a Jan. 27 Planning Commission meeting attended by innerLoop representatives as well as Heights residents, Mayor Bill White addressed the planning commission and said, "Planning means that you don't change every law at every meeting. That's the opposite of planning."

White also said the commission should take into account the feelings of residents when it comes to approving variances for new development in area neighborhoods.

State Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-District 148, City Councilman Adrian Garcia and the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance have sent letters to members of the Planning Commission supporting the Heights community in its concerns over the innerLoop project.

Community members also are soliciting signatures for a petition against the development.

"This is a real test case for the Planning Commission," Sterling said. "They need to make things work so that there's a level playing field for residents. InnerLoop assumed from the beginning that this was a done deal, based on the reputation of the Planning Department.

"If the mayor's words are to be proven true, we need to have someone on the planning staff who serves as an advocate for citizens, who knows the system, knows the process, and who wears a citizen's hat. We need to have someone who can go into this process with the best interests of the citizens in mind."

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