The City of Houston Planning Committee is considering changes to our parking ordinances. Some notable changes include increasing the parking ratio for restaurants (from 8 to 10 spaces per 1000 square feet) and bars (from 10 to 14 spaces per 1000). These rules come on top of an already increasingly “suburbanized” parking and building rules. In general, not good. I’ll try to make it to the hearings on these changes, and below are some of my talking notes
I speak for myself, but some credentials:
– Inside-the-Loop resident for many years
– office in Rice Village
– board of directors of a non-profit shop in Rice Village
– married to a Montrose-area cafe owner
In summary, what I want to present here is “one size does not fit all”. Houston is a very diverse city, don’t define a cookie-cutter ordinance to meet a very varied problem – instead, more local dialogue and collaboration required.
Continue reading Notes on Parking Ordinance Changes in Houston