major milestones - 2013 annual report

8/14/2019 Major Milestones - 2013 Annual Report

1/8

major milestone

Planning & Development Department Annual Report 20


2/8

Dear Houstonians,

Our Fiscal Year 2013 Annual Report, Major Milestones, celebrates remarkable achievements o the

Planning and Development Department. It was an active and successul year that not only brought about

changes to our business practices, but also changes that will affect Houston.

Amendments to major ordinances were approved Chapter 26, the Off-Street Parking Ordinanceand

Chapter 42, the Land Subdivision Ordinance. Both were updated to reflect new standards and developmentpractices that support our growing community while ensuring adequate protections or our established

neighborhoods.

Te Department launched the long awaited update to our online plat submittal system named Plat Tracker.

It is a game changer or how applicants submit plats and how review is handled along with increased

transparency or the public to view the upcoming plats. Tis is a milestone we are particularly proud o as the

work was done in house by a very dedicated team.

Te Departments increased ocus on mobility meant the completion o some and the initiation o other

mobility plansor specific areas in order to define both short-term and long-term projects. Tis is alreadyhaving results and helping the City get ahead o transportation challenges related to growth.

Te Department provided new products designed to provide extensive

inormation on how to restore historic structures. Tese included the

Historic Preservation Fairand the Historic Design Manual.

Te Department also hit major milestones related to community

education by producing 27 Community Uevents, covering

inormation rom deed restrictions to how to utilize new

neighborhood lot character tools available with the adoption oChapter 42 amendments.

Te Planning and Development staff all contributed to creation and

implementation o these and other accomplishments. Tis was an

amazing year. Im very proud o our staff and the work we do every

day or Houstonians. We are pleased to have achieved these Major

Milestones.

Sincerely,

Marlene L. Garick

Director


3/8

Milestones in Development

Afer six years o work, City Council approved the amendments to Chapter 42 and Chapter 10 o the Code o

Ordinances.

Tese amendments provide additional resources or neighborhoods to manage their uture, make the City

more competitive with the suburbs outside the City limits, improve development standards that lead to abetter quality built product, increase opportunity or single-amily residential, and eliminate conusion/

discrepancies contained within the existing code.

Changes were also approved to the Citys Off-Street Parking Ordinance, ound in Chapter 26 o the Code o

Ordinances, largely untouched since it was first adopted in 1989.

Te primary benefits includes rules that require and incentivize bike parking or new businesses, the ability

or an area to establish a Special Parking Area with alternative standards to account or unique parking

demands, reduced parking requirements or designated historic buildings and greater shared parking options

between uses to reduce the total number o parking spaces needed. Te Ordinance includes revised parking

standards or many other uses to more accurately reflect todays needs.

Te Planning and Development Department developed and launched a new online plat application

and review system known as Plat racker. www.HoustonPlatracker.org. It is a web based program that

allows land planners, civil engineers, and surveyors to submit subdivision plat applications or review and

presentation to the Houston Planning Commission.

Te application tracks the status o a plat in real time which allows transparency with applicants, the public,

and other stakeholders about the latest proposed developments throughout the city. Plat racker is also

connected to the My City website.In FY 2013, the Department:

Reviewed 879 Development plats

Reviewed 2,178 Subdivision plats

Reviewed 15,137 plans

Recorded 1,171 plats


4/8

Milestones in Mobility

Te Department continued its ocus on mobility planning, much o which is done in conjunction with the Public

Works and Engineering Department and the Houston-Galveston Area Council. A series o sub-regional mobility

plans being developed that will identiy short, medium and long range projects intended to promote better

mobility, and to consider and develop a multi modal classification or streets within the study area.

Te results have led to proposed changes in our major thoroughare classifications and urther amendments toour Major Toroughare and Freeway Plan.

Milestones in Geographic Information Systems

System developers in the Departments GIS division developed the Plat racker web based system. Plat racker

includes GIS solutions that improve and quicken the planning business process, which is all made possible by

requiring a computer aided design (CAD) standard file. Processing the CAD files

into GIS makes proposed land development viewable by citizens quicker and more

easily than ever beore. It allows automation o other GIS data, which reduces

human error and quickens the review process.

Plat racker was awarded a Public echnology Institute Solutions Award in the

echnology Category or cities with population over 750,000.

Other GIS projects in FY 2013 included:

Integrated GIS personnel rom the Houston Emergency Center (HEC) intoPlanning in order to improve efficiencies in 911 addressing and HEC GISsystems

Te modification/creation o 53,540 addresses and 17,704 road segments

Projects Completed in FY 2013:

Washington Avenue LivableCenter Grant Study

Inner West Loop Mobility Study

East End Mobility Study Urban Houston Framework Study

Mobile application forConsolidated Transportation Plan

Review of 55 proposedMajor Thoroughfare andFreeway Plan amendments

Projects Started in FY 2013:

Heights-Northside Mobility Study

Northwest Mobility Study

Greater West Houston

Subregional Planning Initiative Sustainable Communities

Regional Planning Grant

Regional Transportation Planin conjunction with H-GAC

Texas Medical Center Study

Te Public echnology Institute Solutions awardpresented to the GIS staff or their work with Plat racker.


5/8

Milestones in Community Sustainability

Community Tools

With the adoption o Chapter 42, the provision allowing neighborhoods to apply or tools to establish a

minimum lot size or special building line are now available citywide. Te ordinance also established a provision

to create a minimum lot size area that covers up to 400 homes, or 500 homes in a platted subdivision.

Staff conducted 23 Community U

training sessions across Houston to help

communities understand how to apply

or the new protections.

In FY 2013:

Te Department reviewed nineMinimum Lot Size applicationsand one Special Building Line

application. Te Department processed 13new Prohibited Yard Parking (PYP)applications.

Te Department produced onecity-wide Community U conerenceand two local deed restrictionstraining sessions.

Growth, Trend Analysis and Special Projects

Te Department completed a number o special projects that included the release o demographic profiles o

11 council districts and updated demographic inormation or 88 super neighborhood areas. Te Department

completed the Loop 610 study that provided a snapshot o the orty-two mile loop around the traditional inner

city o Houston. Te report included inormation on housing, ethnicity, age, jobs, education, income, land use,

population and a ew other points.

Projects related to growth in FY 2013:

Te Department acilitated strategic partnership agreements (SPAs) or the limited purpose annexation o24 utility districts. Tere are currently 310 SPAs with 226 utility districts that have generated more than $214million or the City o Houston. Te SPAs represent 6.5% o all sales taxes collected or the city.

Te Department acilitated one ull purpose annexation (Te Commons at Lake Houston) adding 148acres to the ull purpose city boundary.

Te Department assisted in the execution o more than 93 Industrial District agreements or properties inthe Houston Ship Channel with annual revenues o $14 million.

Community U! Conerence was hal-day event where residentslearned about ideas and resources to improve their community.


6/8

Historic Preservation

Te Germantown Historic District was designated as the Citys 20th Historic District. Germantown is a small

wedge o land located east o Woodland Heights to the west, I-45. O the 71 structures in the district, 83 percent

are over 50 years o age and classified as contributing to the district.

Te Department published an online how-to guide or the renovation o

historic properties.

Te Historic Preservation Manual provides inormation on how to

modiy or maintain a landmark or property located within a historic

district; navigate the Certificate o Appropriateness process and the

criteria used to evaluate and approve your historic property enhancement

project and learn about the City o Houstons Historic Districts.

Te Department held its first Historic Preservation Fair. Te Fair provided

residents and proessionals the opportunity to interact and discuss

challenges related to caring or older structures.

opics covered alterations and additions to historic properties, repairinghistoric windows, historic district and landmark designation process,

historic site tax exemptions, and appropriate new construction.

In FY 2013:

19 new applications or Landmarks/Protected Landmarks were reviewed by the Houston Archaeologicaland Historical Commission. Tere are a total o 249 Historic Landmarks and 103 Protected HistoricLandmarks designed by Ordinance.

Te Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission reviewed 395 Certificate o Appropriatenessagenda items.

Mayor Annise Parker holds the newplaque or historic protected landmarks.

Planning & DevelopmentDepartment now hasplaques available for

purchase by owners ofhistoric landmarks andprotected landmarks.


7/8

Houston Tower Commission

Commissioners pictured rom lef to right are

Antonio M. Salinas; Christy B. Smidt; Rodney Lou

Jones; Deputy Director Michael Schaffer; Rob od

Chair; John Melcher; Ignacio Osorio and Dr. Shin

Shem Steven Pei

Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission

Commissioners pictured rom lef to right areDeputy Director Michael Schaffer, Secretary; JorgeGarcia-Herreros; Edie Archer; John Cosgrove;Phoebe udor, Chair; Minnette Boesel, MayorsAssistant or Cultural Affairs, Romulo im Cisneros;R. Maverick Welsh III; Vice Chairman, Ann Collum;Charles Stava; and David Bucek. Not pictured areAnna Mod, Debra Blacklock-Sloan, Rob D. Hellyer,Paul Homeyer and Douglas Elliott

Houston Planning Commission

Commissioners pictured lef to right ront row areLisa Clark; Sonny Garza, Vice Chairman; MarkKilkenny, Chairman; Marlene Garick, PlanningDirector and Susan Alleman. Back row: LindaPorras-Pirtle; Kenneth J. Bohan; Shaukat Zakaria;Eileen Subinsky; Raymond Anderson, P.E., HarrisCounty representative; ruman C. Edminster

III; Richard W. Stolleis, P.E., Fort Bend Countyrepresentative; Antoine Bryant; Keiji Asakura; PauNelson; Mark Mooney, P.E. Montgomery Countyrepresentative; James R. Jard; Marty Stein; Blakeartt III and Algenita Davis. Not Pictured areBrandon Dudley and Fernando Brave


8/8

major milestones - 2013 annual report

Documents