Our meeting with Houston city planners, which included Richmond Coward, Brian Crimmins, and Ryan Albright, was very eye opening to say the least. For one thing, the discussion was much more about the lack of zoning rather than its presence in the area. This is because, for the most part, land and deed restrictions coupled with market demand make most use determinations within the Houston city limits, which includes most municipalities in the suburban areas. There are three ordinances know as the “big 3” that help Houston achieve its goal of “ensuring that it remains a vibrant and sustainable city.” The three ordinances guide land development, parking, and landscaping/historical preservation. Other than these ordinances, density maximums for various types of structures are the only other major policy tool that city planners utilize. The city itself focuses on preventing sprawl and charging developers appropriate impact fees for new development. Impact fees ensure that large planned communities are responsible for their own city services. This is a major help the city’s infrastructure and also makes a tremendous difference when the city chooses to annex various sections of new development. Parking is always a major issue in this city because of the lack of regulation regarding different types of uses. Parking is not always adequately provided for and requires continued work. This is compounded by the fact that the form based code that is used is really only two dimensional, while in other cities it is three dimensional. What this means is that height of structures is not regulated. This is a major challenge that extends way beyond the actual use of structures. While obvious benefits such as market determinations of highest and best are determined by the free market, many negative externalities are rampant.
Utilizing mass-transit to our next stop.
Green Building Resource Center
This center, which was started and is currently operated by architect Steven Stelzer, is a hands on approach to providing education about green practices to citizens. The center was started by donations and actually gained so much public support that they exceeded their funding requirement. Our discussion was dominated by talk of”life cycle costs,” which is roughly defined as the cost of an item in relation to its useful life and its sustainability. The center focuses on educating the public on how reducing the production pollution of green products and extending their useful life is a sustainable practice. Many of their green ideas can be found on codegreenhouston.com. We talked a lot about LEED certifications and the cost involved with the process. One major thing that Mr. Stelzer pointed out was that many LEED projects include consulting costs involved with the development in costs estimations. By his calculations, LEED certificates themselves are much cheaper than most people think. Although he later said that they paid $3000 to certify their 3100 square foot commercial interior, he said that most buildings are certified for much less per square foot than their display area. He also said that in 2009, energy and connectivity have been included much more in the new LEED rating system and changes will continue to evolve as LEED becomes better understood and more transparent. This was a great visit and I would encourage anyone that is interested in sustainability to visit this resource center in downtown Houston when they get a chance.
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