After learning that plans to rezone the West U Town Center Retail District are expected to be postponed until later in 2012, InstantNewsWestU contacted Town Center Committee Chair Bruce Frankel for comment.
“I’m disappointed to hear about it,” Frankel said. “It’s really apples and oranges. You’re talking about an urban site versus a nonurban site.”
The West U City Council directed staff in September to budget for a non-residential zoning study for the commercial areas in the city and asked that the town center be rolled into the project.
City Manager Michael Ross told the news organization that the zoning ordinance needs to be “modernized and brought into the 21st century.” About $60,000 has been approved for the study in the city’s capital reserve fund, he said.
The city plans to hire a consultant who will be given the Town Center Ad Hoc Committee’s report.
Ross said the consultant will work with the Zoning and Planning Commission to bring recommendations to council in 2012. Revisions to the city’s zoning ordinance will require public hearings.
Frankel said he does not believe that any other entity the city hires will come up with further recommendations other the ones his ad hoc committee already made.
“We studied it very hard,” he said, adding that the level of expertise of the committee members was applicable to the task they were given. “I think we’ve come up with the optimal solution to make it a viable town center retail district.”
The city council handed off the Town Center report to the ZPC after the ad hoc committee presented it on Jan. 24. Council directed the ZPC to begin drafting proposals for zoning amendments to Edloe Street.
The proposed changes are recommended because in the event of a catastrophic loss, the buildings would lose prior non-conforming status. The current code allows 50 percent of the existing floor space to be reconstructed, which could lead to an economically blighted area.
The proposed amendments enable the retail area of the town center to be reconstructed or redeveloped through private investment.
The committee was formed by council in December 2009 and was given a mission statement in February 2010 “to explore options and create a mixed use development envelope and palette for a City Center zoning district.”
A public hearing will be held on Nov. 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers, 3800 University Blvd. to hear comments for or against the proposed changes.
$60,000 of taxpayer money wasted on a study. Why. We don’t need a viable town center retail district. We have the entire Rice Village complex a short walk away. Then there is shopping all along Kirby.
Let the people who own the property do what they want with it. If you want to limit height, fine but besides that stop it.
That whole Town Center Committee headed by Bruce Frankel was a sham. Don’t trust him or other developers.
In my travels one of the things I’ve found that makes a town feel special is the presence of a vibrant town cetner or gathering place. During a recent driving trip through the English countryside I came across many small villages and in many of them there was a central location — coffee shop or outdoor square — where locals would invariably be clustered in the evenings. There was a sense of community in these places and the setting certainly created the atmosphere. A town center isn’t just a place to go to shop. It’s a place where people get to know each other. It’s a destination and landmark. Proper thought SHOULD be put into how the city progresses with this area because it matters. It conveys who we are to those who come from the outside. It helps set, or perhaps it simply reflects, the character of the people who live here. High end boutiques? Nah, leave that to River Oaks.
There are some excellent examples all over this country of how a small-sized town center can be developed with aesthetics, practicality, and functionality in mind. I hope to have an opportunity to present these ideas to the council if/when they solicit opinions.
I completely agree with Brokelyn.
That’s your right … despite that his/hers is nothing more than a naive supposition that those who can currently dictate what you can do with your property, will somehow stop at dictating all aspects of a “Town Center”.
This is NOT public property under discussion and subject to this unwarranted intrusion on ownership … it is private property.
Imagine, if you will, someone spending taxpayer dollars to generate a gandiose plan, complete with an illustration of what _your_ property will look like after it has been subjected to the whims of these folks.
The arrogance of those who assume they can dictate taste, use, and disposition of this particular private property is exceeded only by the naiveté of those, who in their ignorance and blinded by pleasing platitudes and a warm and fuzzy presentation, will allow it.
Stuff of fairy tales, verily.
None of those glorious town centers in that English fairy tale were planned … they happened, like the one that’s there now happened, I lived in one. This is real life, not a movie set. What we have here are developers looking to make a fast buck, and for doctors and lawyers to invest in a place where they can to walk to work … You might get thrown a bone, but that stuff of fairy tales, fergetaboutit.
You’re spot on Patrick Henry.
What is described by Brokelyn is already in place: The restaurant that opened in the JMH building. Also, the new Colonial Park and the other parks that have been improved certainly offer opportunities for community gatherings. When I was growing up in West U, we gathered at West University Methodist and Baptist Churches and the Community Building. We did have two drugstores across the street from each other at University and Edloe that had counters where we visited, drank cokes and ate ice cream. We were a simple bunch.