The city of Houston's Planning and Development Department has been working on changes to the city’s buffering ordinance since 2021. BUFFERING BANTER
Committee reaches consensus on changes APRIL 20, 2021
JAN. 11, 2023 City Council public hearing
SEPT. 29, 2022 Presentation to Houston Planning Commission
OCT. 30, 2022 End of the 30-day public comment period
DEC. 1, 2022 Planning Commission approves proposed changes
JAN. 25, 2023 City Council
DEC. 13, 2022 Council Committee presentation
votes to approve ordinance changes
SOURCE: CITY OF HOUSTON/COMMUNITY IMPACT
the absence of all light; it was from the absence of the blue frequency in the light,” she said. The absence of blue light during nighttime signals the body to produce melatonin, Moran said. “The harm is multipl[ied] when you add a lot of blue light—and we’re add- ing a tremendous amount in Houston to the nighttime environment for the human body, and [it] suppresses mel- Before passing on Jan. 25, this year’s discussion on the ordinance changes began with the Jan. 11 public hearing at City Hall, which spurred debate from the council members. With regards to the new lighting standards, District K Council Mem- ber Martha Castex-Tatum questioned why the commission settled on atonin,” she said. Points of debate
3,500 Kelvin versus warmer 3,000 Kelvin lighting. “We have looked at the whole range and consider 3,000 [Kelvin] the alter- native,” Wallace Brown said at the meeting. “However, based on the information that we have gotten from both the Public Works Department and our constituents, our customers have settled on 3,500.” Castex-Tatum and District J Coun- cil Member Edward Pollard both expressed an interest in flexibility for treating cases individually. Wallace Brown said there is an option in the city’s building code for an alternate method of compliance, which allows for “some flexibility.” Additionally, she said Chapter 42, which relates to subdivisions, devel- opments and platting, allows for some variance requests. District C Council Member Abbie
Kamin noted the changes to residen- tial buffering will not be grandfa- thered in. Similarly, District I Council Member Robert Gallegos noted con- cerns over residential developments that are built next to existing com- mercial garages. “My concern is if there is nothing there and someone builds a garage and, in time, someone comes in and builds residences across the street, the owner of the garage does not then have to go to these standards,” Gallegos said. Wallace Brown and Bandi said there is no clause in place to prevent this scenario, and Mayor Sylvester Turner said it is based on the city’s general principle on development: “first in time, first in rank.” Council members were to vote on the proposed changes at their Jan. 18 meeting but moved it to the following
week in order to “allow and provide for variations as specific situations require,” Wallace Brown said. This ordinance change is the cul- mination of years of discussions with residents, which began in April 2021, by the Planning Commission and Liv- able Places Committee. The ordinance changes will take effect 30 days from Houston City Council’s Jan. 25 meet- ing, on Feb. 25, and will inform all future development. “How do we build a livable city for all Houstonians so that our residen- tial neighborhoods are convenient to commercial and convenient to the services that we need as residents, but are not unfairly and unjustly harmed by them?” Wallace Brown said.
For more information, visit communityimpact.com .
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BELLAIRE - MEYERLAND - WEST UNIVERSITY EDITION • FEBRUARY 2023
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