SCDesign

They HAVE NEVER named a Historic Distric without input from the community: but the Ordinance says they have the power to do it. At this point they probably don't have the political capital to pull it off, but if they can show that there is a significant portion of the population that is in favor of establishing these Districts then that will change quickly. There is an agenda to start it and Idlewood, Garden Oaks, Oak Forest, Timbergrove Manor, areas of Sunset Heights and a number of smaller areas in the Heights have been named as areas that they want to do it to ASAP. If this change to the Ordinance goes through without significant opposition they will start. We've been told that by people at the HAHC.

I don't know where the map is, but I can tell you that it is from 11th Street to 6th Street, and from Heights Blvd to Oxford. Given the HAHC's ability to name historic districts without any kind of petition or notice if the area meets the requirements (51% of houses over 50 years old), you are just the first in a LONG line of people who are going the be saying "What the ****!" Poyea: Thanks for that link to watch the Council Meetings. I knew it was around but I haven't been able to find it anywhere.

A brief update: As most of you know the moratorium issue was tagged last week for further review and is on the agenda today. What you may not know is that "we" had an agreement with the Mayor that when the moratorium went into effect no new Historic Districts would be accepted until the new Ordinance was adopted. When the item was tagged that deal was also postponed and it gave the South Heights and the Woodland Heights enough time to submit their paperwork to become Historic Districts. Those areas, when approved, will also be subject to these changes. The moratorium language is supposed to allow for a “grandfather” for projects that are already started in the Historic Districts allowing them to still be covered by the 90 Day waiver, but for these new districts we are not sure when they will go into effect and what the HAHC’s position will be regarding the “grandfather”. It would probably be a good idea to “retain” a designer or architect ASAP just in case, if you live in, and plan to build in, those areas. (Shameless plug from a greedy designer/builder: I'm a designer as well as a builder and do draw plans for others to build www.scdesignllc.com) Yesterday there was a comment session for City Council regarding the moratorium and about 80 people showed up to speak. I was not there but what I am hearing is that it was about 50/50 for and against and a number of issues were brought up that the City Council was not aware of. Regardless it is almost certain that the moratorium will pass today.

URGENT! Actually, this isn't dirty pool by the administration; this is the time they always do comments. If you work downtown it’s not inconvenient at all. Not that I am defending them on this, it’s just not something that they could manipulate so they can’t be blamed. I just left a meeting where we discussed what went on at the Task Force Meeting today and it was pretty clear that Sue Lovell has firmly established her agenda to have this moratorium passed regardless of public opinion. She made it clear that this is a step toward hers, and the Mayor’s, goal to stop all new development in Historic Districts, and the Heights in particular. In fact, she stated that without this moratorium she did not think that they would be able to move forward to that goal. Many of the people involved with this fight feel that it is inevitable that the moratorium will pass on Wednesday, but that does not mean that there should not be a fight. If the residents are against this they need to speak tomorrow and let it be known. It might not stop it from happening but it will make some of the council members think twice about adopting a “no means no” policy when the item comes up for vote the next time. There are 2 key issues that MUST be addressed tomorrow, and the more people who speak the more the Council will hear. 1) That the Historic Preservation Ordinance states clearly that ANY changes to the Ordinance must go through the same process as the original, meaning that the LAW states that there must be a new petition in order to change this ordinance. The Mayor specifically states that she does not want to have a new petition circulated but that is the only legal way for her to do it. 2) There are SERIOUS questions about the validity of the original petition that was circulated to establish the Heights Historic District. Should they have been allowed to use City land as a yes vote to get the required 51% of land owners (the parks and library were used as a yes vote)? Were all of the address and signatures verified and proper? We know of a number that WERE NOT and the City refuses to examine it. If you are a concerned property owner try to show up and speak tomorrow. This is truly a fight for your property rights and the builders and realtors CANNOT fight this for you. Without a concerted and HUGE response this will pass, and in all likely hood will become permanent, and if you do not defend your own rights they will be taken from you. This link leads to the Request for Council Action submitted on May 28 to get on the Agenda for June 2. http://www.scdesignllc.com/RfCA.pdf This ia a link to a letter from Mayor Parker to Council Members Sue Lovell and Ed Gonzolaz stating that she DOES NOT want a new petition. http://www.scdesignllc.com/MPL.pdf

You are welcome to your opinion. Since I'm responsible for hundreds of those pseudo-Victorians you are so fond of you can probably guess what my opinion is. All are equally valid and since people actually purchased those psuedo-Victorians I would inagine that there are just as many who share my opinion as share yours. I was in this neighborhood when crack dealers hand delivered to car doors at the corner of Harvard and 11th and it was the psuedo-Victorian building, and the people who purchaed them, that made them go away. You can put it down all you like but the Heights would still be a slum if it weren't for those "inappropriate" buildings. There are nice neighborhoods to the east of I-45 that are still as prestine as the Heights was in the 80's. Those areas despirately needs citizens who charish "the way it used to be" and they haven't been invaded by the builders yet. You could buy 4 houses there for the price of a Heights bungalow and they could be made into Historic Districts early enough to preserve the character that you cherish.

Attached is the Request for Council Action submitted by Marlene Gafrick, the Director of the Planning Department, on May 28, 2010. That was the Friday before Memorial Day. The agenda date was set for June 2, 2010, the Wednesday after Memorial Day. Draw your own conclusions about the timing and the motivation behind it. Well, I did the attachment and don't see it but I'll try to find some way to make it a link. http://www.scdesignllc.com/RfCA.pdf

First let me say that it disturbs me that anyone in the City think that this doesn't affect them. On thing that I may not have made clear is the the HAHC has the power to name ANY area in the City a Historic District if 51% of the houses in the neighborhood are older than 50 years old. The original petition drives were necessary in order to get some momentum on the Historic District designations without a huge protest, but they are not necessary according to the City Historic Preservation Ordinance. Timbergrove? Most of those houses are over 50 years old. Garden Oaks? Oak Forest? Large areas of Spring Branch? Sure, most of those areas are single story ranch homes, but who is to say those areas are less worthy of being protected from development than the Heights? The problem biggest problem with the Historic Guidelines is that the HAHC gave themselves a way out of not following them by the simple addition of the language that all designs must take into consideration the blockface character. That means that regardless of the Guidlines, if the houses on the block are all singel story Craftsman Bungalows than you will not be approved if you submit a Victorian, even if that Victorian follows the guidlines. If you are not going to build something that is the same as the rest of the structures on the block you will not get a CoA. Can you take the subjectivity out ot the Guidlines without giving up the whole "blockface character" thing? Blockface preservation is THE MAIN FOCUS of the whole thing so I do not believe it is possible.

That's a fair point. I am only refering to new construction applications. I'll find out the number of submittals. An estimate, going by the number of submittals from meetings that I have attended (8 over the last 48 months), I would say it is somewhere over 300 submittals. I have a lot of experience with the process and have had about a dozen remodel/addition plans approved. As for trying to compromise with the committee suggestions, that is not something that has been possible for most of those submittals. I suggest you look at the Design Guidline for the Heights Historic District and you will see that it is almost impossible to design/build a new house that will meet these requirements. If an owner is willing to make the compromise, which is the case with the fewer than 10 approvals to date, and can afford to pay for the extra expense, than it is a possibility. No builders, and very few people looking to build a custom house, will be willing or able to make those compromises.

I have been a resident, designer and builder in the Heights for the last 17 years and have seen this issue evolve from the beginning. Here is what I know about the moratorium that is going to be voted on, and approved, today and what I believe the impact will be. There will be a moratorium on 90 day waivers for demolition of contributing or potentially contributing structures, new construction and remodeling as of June 2, 2010. If you have a non contributing structure you will still be able to get a permit for demolition, and if you have a vacant lot you are fine. If you are remodeling a non contributing structure you will still be able to get a permit. All vacant lots will now be considered potentially contributing land, whether there was a contributing, potentially contributing or a non contributing structure on that land originally, and all plans to build on that land will have to follow the Design Guidelines and be approved by the HAHC. If they are not approved you will not be able to build it, period. This applies to all remodels and repairs that fall under the Historic District rules. No means no. Hurricane, fire and disaster repairs fall under this ordinance also, so every homeowner will probably have to deal with this at some point. Less than 10 new construction plans have passed the HAHC review and received Certificates of Appropriateness since the Historic District was established, so that give some idea of how likely that is. As a builder I can tell you that this will stop all spec building in the Historic Heights. There are too many areas around the Heights that the builders can move too and still make a living, and once the builders that are currently invested in the District have divested themselves there will be no turning back. There is no way to build a profitable house under the Design Guidelines, and I don’t believe that there will many people purchasing homes to renovate without knowing that they are going to be able to do what they want; which they wouldn’t know until they bought the house, purchased plans and submitted them for review. Today the majority of the value of the Heights is in the land, which today is determined by what the builders will pay for that land. Take the builders out of the equation and how many buyers are there that will pay $150+ per square foot for an 80 year old, 1,200 square foot, home that needs extensive renovations and no guarantee that they will be allowed to do those renovations? Who is really going to be hurt by this? The older residents who have lived in the Heights for years and are going to see their most valuable asset destroyed in the name of preservation. Without a very large protest this IS going to happen. The Mayor wants this and has made it clear that she wants the Heights to be part of it, and she DOES NOT want there to be a new petition required to change the Ordinance. Most of the other Historic Districts want this and should probably get it. Most of those neighborhoods have 20 or 30 houses worth millions of dollars and the cost of upkeep and renovation is something that the people that live there can afford. The Heights is 5 times larger than all of the other Districts combined and is going to be lumped in as though it is the same kind of situation.