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An Old Article On Zoning In Houston


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Now this comment I definitely agree with (and noticed immediately when I moved here), though not necessarily with the voluntarily part:

Actually, Hizzy, I think it is voluntary, but not necessarily because industry owners are nice. The article stated correctly, that these businesses want cheap land, and often more than an individual lot. Land near rail lines will be cheaper than in neighborhoods. The high price of residential land acts as a buffer to incompatible uses.

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Me, too. I remember the last zoning vote. I was for the ordinance then. I also lived in Ft Worth at the time, and had mostly lived in the suburbs prior to that.

Now that I live in town, where I am supposed to be at so much risk of terrible things moving next door, I find that the dark warnings are largely unjustified, and that a little haphazardness in building patterns is a refreshing respite to the never ending sameness of a master planned neighborhood. I LIKE having a convenience store 2 blocks away.

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Actually, Hizzy, I think it is voluntary, but not necessarily because industry owners are nice.

Well that was what I actually meant, that they weren't doing it because they were concerned about maintaining the quality and character of residential neighborhoods. I was equating voluntary with charity, like Jerry Lewis on Labor Day.

:)

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I think one of the points made in the article is flawed. If I am not mistaken, country-wide real estate price trends are done on an "area" basis, not "city" basis, as in "real estate prices in the Houston area are lower than other parts of the country". Does anyone know of price trend models that are done on a "city" basis? If so, I'd like to see because I have always thought that homes inside Houston city limits are every bit as expensive as the national average. That said, even if Houston did the unimaginable and passed zoning, it doesn't mean Harris, Montomery and Ft Bend Counties would follow suit, meaning Houston "Area" prices would have been relatively the same with or without zoning. Just a thought...

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