HNathoo

this is a different site than the mix development.

Just received this message from the Museum Park Folks: The Planning Department is set to present the Walkable Places and Transit Oriented Development ordinances to City Council tomorrow, July 21, 2:00 p.m. (public session). This hearing will likely be followed by Council’s vote on the ordinances July 29. MPNA is asking that Museum Park be omitted from the TOD for at least a year to allow our stakeholders to fully understand the impact of the proposed ordinances, while also pursuing possible Walkable Places designation and buffering ordinances to protect our current residents from light/noise pollution. Buffering is critical to the quality of life our neighbors enjoy. While TOD ordinances are designed to encourage development of dense housing in the neighborhood, we currently have no protections in place to mitigate the impact of light and noise typically associated with high-rise developments. To review more detailed concerns raised by MPSN and MPNA, see May 22 News Posting located on MPNA website. You can reach out to the Mayor and Council Members to express your opinion regarding TOD. Attached you will find a sample letter for that purpose. Contact information for the Mayor’s Office and Council Members is listed below. A grass-roots effort spearheaded by Dale Furrow and Barbara McGuffey earlier submitted a petition to the Planning Commission. You can access that website containing detailed information and a history of efforts by MPSN/MPNA and residents here. Mayor: Sylvestor.Turner@houstontx.gov City of Houston Council Members: District A Amy Peck districta@houstontx.gov District B Jerry Davis districtb@houstontx.gov District C Abbie Kamin districtc@houstontx.gov District D Carolyn Evans-Shabazz districtd@houstontx.gov District E Dave Martin districte@houstontx.gov District F Tiffany Thomas districtf@houstontx.gov District G Greg Davis districtg@houstontx.gov District H Karla Cisneros districth@houstontx.gov District I Robert Gallegos districti@houstontx.gov District J Edward Pollard districtj@houstontx.gov District K Marthat Castex-Tatum districtk@houstontx.gov At Large 1 Mike Knox atlarge1@houstontx.gov At Large 2 David Robinson atlarge2@houstontx.gov At Large 3 Michael Kubosh atlarge3@houstontx.gov At Large 4 Letitia Plummer atlarge4@houstontx.gov At Large 5 Sallie Alcorn atlarge5@houstontx.gov

This is finally going in front of Council on Wednesday. Deadline to register to call is tomorrow at 5 PM. I would encourage everyone that pro urbanism to call in, as the NIMBY's always have an outsized showing: To speak remotely at the Walkable Places Hearing on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2020 • All speakers must register in advance (Tuesday July 21st, 2020 by 5:00 p.m.). The hearing is posted to begin at 9:00 a.m. but may begin a little later. • If you did not register in advance, you will not be recognized to speak. • To sign up to speak, please call the City Secretary’s Office at 832-393-1100. o If you need translation services, please notify staff when registering. • You will need to call in prior to the start of the meeting. The number to call is: (936) 755-1521; Conference ID# 499 723 543#. Options for watching the meeting: • HTV: https://www.houstontx.gov/htv/index.html • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/HoustonTelevision/videos/

https://imgur.com/a/a76O3mw

Yikes. Hopefully, the end product comes out nicely.

There was some type of liner where the garage is going to be built. Hopefully it’ll break ground soon.

TXDOT bought them out. They're moving to Westchase

Signs of life!

my understanding is that they are planning at least one residential tower

https://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/The-Ion-on-track-to-open-in-Q1-in-former-Sears-15382356.php The redevelopment of the former Sears department store in Midtown into a center for innovation is set to open by the end of March 2021, possibly with a full tenant roster, a developer of the project said in a recent interview. "If all negotiations we are in right now end positively, we will have a full building," said Ryan LeVasseur, managing director of direct real estate with Rice Management Co., which is leading and financing the $100 million project called The Ion. The company, which manages Rice University’s $6.3 billion endowment, launched the redevelopment last summer.

I believe those units are owned by the housing authority. Not sure if you’ll see many improvements for a while.

BKR is very much oil focused and is probably hurting in this environment.

It seems like the neighborhood forgets how many high density buildings it already has. Many more than midtown.

FYI - there will be a call tonight specifically in regards to Museum Park. Follow the links below to join the meeting and pose your questions. Join Microsoft Teams Meeting +1 936-755-1521 United States, Huntsville (Toll) Conference ID: 484 461 248#

No - just planning commission thus far. City council will be a few months out.

No, it's passed. What I'm saying is that if there was an amendment done at this point, it would probably have to go back to planning commission.

Not 100% certain on how this works, but it seems it would need to be passed again at the planning commission level if something were to be requested to be changed by city council. That would set this thing back a few months. Museum Park just sent this e-mail out today: Walkable Places/Transit Oriented Development ordinances advance to City Council The Planning Commission met Thursday, May 28, with the consideration of Walkable Places and Transit Oriented Development ordinances at the top of the agenda. TOD streets are determined by proximity to rail stations along with other criteria, and will include nearly half of streets in Museum Park as either primary TOD streets (mandatory) or secondary TOD streets (opt-in). See map here. Designed to promote denser housing near transit stations, TOD ordinances ease certain developer requirements including parking requirements. The ordinances also provide reduced setbacks that give developers more buildable area allowing larger buildings closer to the street. Developers will be required to provide among other benefits wider sidewalks, a safety buffer (area between street and sidewalk), and landscaping along the streets. Several MP streets are lined with heritage trees, which give Museum Park its distinctive character and which may well be impacted by the reduced setbacks. For detailed description of TOD, see here. Because of the complexity of the ordinances and the difficulty in parsing the impact on Museum Park, several residents, including Museum Park Super Neighborhood President and MPNA President, attended the virtual meeting with specific requests: Hold additional public meeting(s) to better assist residents in understanding the complexities of the ordinances. The existing buffering ordinances are not part of the WP/TOD ordinances and as currently written do not require noise, light, garage, or wind shielding for residential properties on transit corridors. Prior to enacting WP/TOD these ordinances must be updated and strengthened in collaboration with potentially impacted property owners. Recognize the unique qualities of the neighborhood, a destination for 12 million visitors a year to the cultural institutions, museums and Hermann Park. Additionally, District D CM Carolyn Evans Shabazz, At-large Council Members, David Robinson and Sallie Alcorn spoke at the Planning Commission on behalf of the requests sought by the residents. CM Leticia Plummer provided a letter of support. Despite the requests to defer action on Museum Park, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to advance the Transit-Oriented-Development and the Walkable Places ordinances to City Council. MPNA will continue to work in concert with Museum Park Super Neighborhood to secure additional public engagement with the Planning Department so that all Museum Park neighbors can understand the changes that will impact the neighborhood. At the same time we will continue to seek changes in the buffering ordinances that will protect our neighborhood as development continues.