The decision whether to regulate basements being built in West U, or to prohibit them altogether, proved to be a difficult one for the city’s Zoning and Planning Commission, taking more than a year-and-a-half to bring to a recommendation to city council.
During Monday’s special council meeting, the ZPC recommended basements and subterranean structures should not be allowed.
In November of 2008, city council asked the ZPC and the Building and Standards Commission for a recommendation on whether to permit basements with strict regulations or to prohibit them entirely. That recommendation – an outright prohibition – finally came during Monday’s special city council meeting.
“The bottom line is, don’t do it,” Mayor Bob Kelly said before the discussion with the ZPC began.
ZPC Chair Steve Brown said the commission and the BSC spent a good deal of time trying to come up with regulations, but in the end determined it would be better to prohibit them.
Even though basements would be generally prohibited for homeowners, regulations would allow certain partially below-grade structures to be built, such as an elevator well.
BSC member Laurinda Lankford told council that she thinks the property owner should be able to decide if they want to build a basement.
Councilmember George Boehme said he understands the property owners rights, but “the people next door have property rights too.”
Some of the reasons for banning basements included the impact on neighbors, an increase in property damage or personal safety risks because of floods and enforcing uses once the basement is built.
“I think it defies common sense for people to build basements in West U,” Brown said.
Councilmember Chuck Guffey said if a resident really wanted a wine cellar, “they could come in and ask for one.”
Council took no action on the recommendation, but is expected to schedule it for further discussion at a future meeting.
While I hate to see ZPC continually poking its collective nose in property owners business and dictating architectural tastes, this is a rare case of the need to protect people from themselves … transplants in particular simply have no idea of the problems associated with basements on the Gulf Coast. An outright prohibition is the only sensible solution.
I vehemently disagree with this plan. There is no reason to outlaw properly engineered basements. There would be no effect on neighbors and in fact could result in a benefit if people were to reduce the footprint of their homes due to the construction of additional below grade space.
As for protecting transplants from themselves, this is not really a concern. Like any structural element, a basement design would have to be approved by the city after being designed by a licensed
Professional Engineer. there are many engineers in the area that are capable of doing this. If someone is willing to pay the expense of having a properly engineered basement, they should be allowed to do so. Building a structure that can stand up to our gumbo and water table is not an issue.
As far as controlling the use of this space after it is built, there is not an issue here. It is not a new thing in the world of city governments and city BPC’s.
I suspect that the real reason for banning them is the the expectation that not enough would be built to justify the expense in the building department and on the ZPC to come up with the expertise and rules.