heights_yankee

Ahhh... there we go. It was only a matter of time. Not agreeing with my neighbor doesn't mean I don't care about them. That must be how you roll in Eastwood. You have an awful lot of opinions about how people in the Heights should act and what we should believe for someone who doesn't live here. And as far as how West U anything is, I was trying to match your tone here but I guess I'm just not the much of a delicate flower. Anyway, I was talking about the traffic and the sprawl of West U related to the Village, not the people.

Berryhill- You're right but I guess I never thought of it in those terms because it was the only full restaurant (as opposed to Someburger or Dacapo's) walking distance from me when I moved here. And, yes, it is kid heaven over there. Collina's- So right. I kind of had the 5% with that, too, but it's disappeared. I hardly remember the Rice Village location, especially now that it has a different name.

Last Friday she had tamales. I brought a chipotle/ black bean home for my husband but accidentally left it in my car.

Well, I'll probably get all kinds of insults hurled my way for saying this, but I've already been personally insulted and sent hate emails from members of this forum, so why try to play nice now? D'Amico's is a Rice VIllage cornerstone. They've been in business for 14 years and never opened a 2nd location but now are moving to the Heights. West U is beautiful and has its positives, but I don't want to live there. So, while I am 100% thrilled with the overall development of White Oak and 95% happy about this specific restaurant- because I do like the food and the casual environment- I have 5% reservations about what this means symbolically for the Heights. Call it Heights-centric but I think we all have a vision, whether our neighbor agrees or not, about what we want our neighborhood to look like. Again, it's a tiny reservation (that I probably shouldn't have brought up) but West U just isn't mine.

Also coming to White Oak, a 2nd location of D'Amico's. Funny that after being in the Village for 14 years, they are only just now opening a 2nd location. Anyway, I feel pretty sure this is a good thing, though not 100%

My mom and I went in last week. She had a late breakfast of their crustless quiche and tomato soup. She said it was really good. The menu looks promising- sandwiches, deviled eggs, soups. They have a separate menu for teas- black, white, green, roiboos (sp?) and a couple other varieties. It's large and uncluttered inside. Wifi. Going to be a nice addition to the street, I think. In related news, the spot next to Shade, previously going to open as Love Street Coffee House, is still going to opening, now as Heights Ashbury. They will be selling food from Radical Eats, which I think is mostly tamales (at least that was all they had on Holiday on 19th). Next to them, between Shade and Behind the Garden Gate, will be a cigar store (which, at this time, I think is unrelated to the old cigar store that was across from Pie In The Sky. Anyone know differently?). So glad to see these empty store front filling.

Oh yeah. Just because they have the spaces doesn't mean just anyone will be able to park in them.

Pic was what Tycer opened after he stunned people by closing Aries. Pic stunk and it's short lifespan surely showed it.

Aries always lived up to the hype. It was well regarded locally and given accolades in the national food press. It was a shock to everyone when Tycer closed it. Aries was a pre- Gravitas. The new location will only have breakfast and lunch and is in the same space where Textile was.

It might be. I heard recently that a bunch of bars on Washington were kind of cheating the system by sharing parking spaces so ample parking has become a pretty big deal down there. There is an ongoing investigation according to the Heights rumor mill. I don't know if this is the case for this lot but having a huge parking lot there is not as far fetched as it might have been before. They can probably lease some of their spots for extra revenue as well .

Unless they just put up a new sign the "coming soon" sign has been there for months, if not over a year

Excellent news. Not only will this be a great addition for people who like to stuff their faces (like me) but it will be nice to not see that sad, vacant store front on the Blvd anymore

We still haven't been, although it continues to be on our radar. I will say Allison Cook skewered them! I usually trust Allison (and my trust in food writers is seriously tempered by the opinions of real people. Frankly, I prefer b4-u-eat.com) but I thought she was a little tough on them. Will have to make up my own mind soon...

Well, the only conclusion that can be drawn without questioning your claims (and I am not. If you say it happened, I believe you) is that there is some issue specific to where you your block where you experienced these things, which is not a Historic District. I do live in a Historic district and none of these things apply other than variance requests when a project crosses the set back requirements.

So, I sent the above quote to an architect I know who is intimately aware of the process for a major renovation in a Historic District. He said this is patently false. He had also never heard of the scale model issue. Red, I thought your house was all still the original foot print and that the only addition is the garage with gameroom?

This is exactly what I keep telling my kids. You'd think at 3.5 years and 16 months they would get it but they just don't. Lazy, hovering slackers who depend on me to take care of them.

Having been a working adult for much longer than I have been a mother, I can tell you that being a SAHM is certainly not easier from a planning stand point. In fact, it's much, much easier for my husband to make weekday meetings/appointments than it is for me. But I digress... So with a set monthly date that a homeowner can know months before they even decide to do a project, having an open ended window of time until 15 days before the meeting is a hardship? Sure, if you plan something one night with the intention of starting the next day. I mean really, who doesn't know at least 2 weeks in advance that they are going to make major changes to their home? I did not have to submit any plans for interior renovations to the HCAC. I do have to get proper construction permits from CoH, which is standard no matter where I live. Where are you getting that information?

I don't know why your neighbor had to go through this process but none of this was required for either of the porch projects in Norhill, especially not a scale model. I have never seen a scale model for any construction project in my HIstoric district. Ever. Also, the projects do NOT have to apply for a variance unless they violate the set back requirements. Only if you need a variance would even possibly have to attend a hearing. Again, a variance is only required if you are crossing a border of some sort on the property. Neither of the porch projects I am aware of required a variance and, therefore, the home owners/renovators were not required to do anything more than submit their plans. The HCAC meetings are scheduled in advance so it is very easy to time your project around the hearings. I am currently in the process of doing this myself- I am removing a glass block window and replacing it with a wood one-over-one. I didn't even have to submit blue prints or design specs for this project, only a picture of the window and a letter of my (contractor's) intention to fill in the space with blonde, scratch face brick, which is the same as my home's exterior. The lead time on the window I want is 6 weeks, so my project will be approved by the HCAC long before all the materials to complete the bathroom redo are even available. As far as the guts of the bathroom, I do not have to provide the HCAC with any of those details as that is not their concern. ETA: Variance requests may also vary depending on the project. We have a house in our neighborhood being moved right now and they didn't need to request a variance for that project. Admittedly, I am unsure if that is because their plans didn't pass the Board the 1st time (they were going to violate 2 set back requirements per our deed restrictions) and never made it to the HCAC- or- if the HCAC didn't require it before the plans were rejected by the Board. THat is kind of unclear but basically I am not sure if they submitted to the HCAC 1st and PPNA 2nd or the other way around. There is no set way you have to do it, although the deed restrictions are often tougher than the HCACs requirements, so most ppl submit to the neighborhood 1st.

The HCAC has approved 2 (that I know of, possibly more) front porch additions in my Historic District. They also do not control anything regarding the interior. Sounds like you could have bought your exact same home in Norhill, with the blessing of the HCAC.

You should come to my neighborhood. Virtually no new construction. Plenty of no Walmart signs.

Yes, that would be my area. We have not modified my home since we moved in almost 7 years ago and it has increased in value almost double what your friends have experienced. I went out of town for 4 days. We left Thursday and got home last night. In that time, a 3/2 down the street from me (renovated 3 years ago) put a for sale signb up in the yard. Today there was an inspector out there and I just checked HAR and it's "option pending." There has been no stagnation in this area at all and, again, we already live by "rules" stricter than those everyone is so up in arms about. Not only do homeowners have to answer to the HCAC but they also have to deal with the neighborhood Board, which is sometimes in line with the HCAC and sometimes not. It has caused no slow down, no stagnation, no ghetto. This area is highly desireable and most houses (unless they've been totally jacked and ruined by cheap flips) sell very quickly. As a matter of fact, even the quick flip- some of you may remember the putt putt house on Melwood- sold quickly and the man who bought it has been lovingly making improvements to the home to rememdy some of the subpar work done by the flipper. So, yeah. No ghetto.

To be fair, many Democrats dislike SJL in the same way many Republicans dislike Rick Perry.

Ugh. I just typed out a thoughtful and articulate answer to this and when I hit the send button my computer ate the freaking post. I will try to duplicate my genius for you again here... So, actually this statement isn't accurate. It has not been the 90 day rule that has preserved the homes in my neighborhood, North Norhill/Proctor Plaza. Very few people apply for teardown variances here because of our deed restrictions, which have a lot of control (not all exercised) over new constructions. It is extremely difficult to build a large McCraftsman here, no thanks to the 90 day rule. As long as I have lived here, all applications for tear downs have been approved by the neighborhood association and the HCAC save one- the infamous home at 801 Pizer. They requested a variance to tear down and were denied by the HCAC and pleaded with by their neighbors but they tore it down anyway after the 90 day wait. This is the only one that could have and should have been saved and it fell after 90 days anyway. The other tear downs in this area needed to go due to condition issues (although one was 'demolition by neglect' which is such a sad and shady way of doing it- intentionally letting your property fall in to a dangerous state of disrepair so you can tear it down in hopes of making bigger money. It didn't work and the lot is still vacant. This is not a case study in why the deed restrictions are dangerous or wrong, either, as it is 1 house out of 850. It's rare anywhere to find such a homeowner who is willing to do that with their investment.) We have roughly 1% new construction and this is primarily because of our neighborhood deed restrictions, which are strikingly similar to what the HCAC is trying to move forward with. Yes, I do favor preservation generally but I also live with in restrictions similar to the ones being proposed already and I see, 1st hand, how they benefit my neighborhood and do no harm to property owners. We are still a very eclectic neighborhood and diverse from a socio-economic standpoint. Our deed restrictions provide for this and protect this, not make it impossible as others have suggested. Also, values. 2 examples- a bungalow with a large addition on the back recently sold with in 8 days of being listed. Listing price: $500k (Melwood). Another home is a 2/1 with the original footprint and a teeny sunroom added off the larger bedroom in back. It had an offer over asking price within 48hours of being on the market. Asking price was ~$329k. Both cases here are friends of ours. If you search HAR for 77009, you can see 2/1s that sold in the high $200ks or low $300ks, then there are the ones with additions selling for quite a bit more.

On the east side, south of the convenience store before the old apartments. -or- on your left if you're headed to kind biscuit