This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

A “Stop Ashby Highrise” sign hangs on a fence across the street from the vacant property at 1717 Bissonnet Street at Ashby Street in the Boulevard Oaks neighborhood, Friday, April 29, 2022, in Houston. Residents fought the Ashby project for years, saying it would degrade their neighborhood. Among other issues, residents called for greater buffer zones between their homes and the proposed high-rise. 

More residences would be covered by buffering and lighting requirements designed to protect Houston neighborhoods from the negative impacts of nearby commercial developments under a proposal before City Council Wednesday.

The expanded rules have been in the works since early 2021, when the city received a large volume of complaints from residents across Houston about high-rises and other commercial buildings springing up in their neighborhoods, according to Suvidha Bandi, the principal planner at the Houston Planning and Development Department.

“There were significant complaints from communities, especially Museum Park,” Bandi said. “So, there was a request to look into it.”

More from Yilun Cheng: City eliminates overdue fees for Houston Public Library books

Under current rules, new high-rises taller than 75 feet need to have a buffer of 30 to 40 feet from single-family homes on lots larger than 3,500 square feet. The proposed change would extend that protection to all single-family residences and small multi-family developments with fewer than eight units. It also adds a buffer requirement of 15 feet for mid-rises taller than 65 feet.

The goal, according to Bandi, is to apply buffering protections to more families and encourage developers to move away from heavily residential areas.

“The change would help make the ordinance more equitable because, right now, even if you live in a single-family home, if it’s on a smaller lot, the buffering requirement doesn't apply to you,” she said. “And we want to encourage high-density development to happen along major corridors, streets, major thoroughfares rather than in highly residential areas along local streets.”

The proposal also would set standards for the intensity and color of light fixtures outside commercial buildings, require commercial garages to shield light from nearby homes, and ask developers to provide screening for bulk garbage containers next to residences or public streets.

HOUSING OUTLOOK: Houston home sales tumbled at the end of 2022. Here's what's in store for 2023.

Sandy Stevens, president of the Museum Park Neighborhood Alliance, within the Museum District, expressed support for the amendments during a public hearing at last week's City Council meeting. She said that as a mixed-development area, her community has been particularly affected by the lack of adequate protection against the proliferation of commercial projects. 

“During the last 20 years, we have experienced rapid redevelopment in that neighborhood, redevelopment that's been marked by the shortcomings of the current standards designed to protect residents,” Stevens said. “And we've arrived at a set of amendments that go a long way toward improving the quality of life for everyone.”

The Greater Houston Builders Association, which represents the city's residential construction industry, is also on board with the amendments.

"We support this because the new construction will have to have a buffer line between the buildings," Terry Swenson, a spokesperson for the association, said in an email response. "This protects home owners from businesses appearing next door and building right along the property line. It does not affect the residential building industry. It does impact commercial industry as they will have to most likely buy bigger lots."

District C Councilmember Abbie Kamin urged Mayor Sylvester Turner to explore ways to regulate existing developments, as well.

“I would just say we continue to have challenges where someone may be holding over on a property, for let’s say over a decade, and because they are under the original application they don’t come under the new rules,” Kamin said during last week's City Council meeting. “I would just respectfully ask that we continue to look at that.”

HOUSTON POLITICS: What to know about Texas election contests, including Alexandra Mealer's in Harris County

While the proposal establishes a maximum color temperature of 3,500 Kelvin — a neutral-warm tone — for lighting on all commercial properties next to residences, Debbie Moran, a Houston resident and advocate against light pollution, said a warmer 3,000-Kelvin ceiling would ensure better sleep quality for neighbors.

“No one's talking about the harm of the blue light and the higher-Kelvin temperatures, and there's a lot of harm,” Moran said at the council meeting. “It makes it a lot more difficult to sleep, even with a small amount coming around the edges of blackout shades. ... Juvenile delinquency goes up when you have sleep deprivation and mental health issues go up when you have sleep deprivation. So, we still feel that 3,000 Kelvin actually is the all purpose for any type of use.”

The planning department said an overly warm tone would compromise visibility.

Echoing Moran’s concern, however, District K Councilmember Martha Castex-Tatum said she would like the city to apply the ordinance in a more flexible way to assist residents facing specific challenges.

“The lighting that businesses emit that abut residential neighborhoods is such a nuisance," Castex-Tatum said. "When the gas station went up in Fort Bend, Houston, the residents had to live with those bright lights in their bedrooms at night and they could never get dark. I hope we will ... have an opportunity to make some individual decisions when it doesn’t fit into the mold of what we’re doing today.”

The proposal falls under the city’s Livable Places initiative, which aims to update development standards to accommodate Houston’s growing population and changing demographics. The amendments, if approved by City Council on Wednesday, would take effect next month. 

Yilun Cheng is a reporter for the Houston Chronicle, covering local politics and City Hall.

DeMeco Ryans, the Texans’ new head coach, took front-and-center stage on Thursday, and from his first words to his last, he let the world know that this is a new day.