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Planning commission approves variances for Houston Heights hotel and restaurant project
Summary
Commission granted variances from Chapter 28 and Chapter 42 to allow a 14-room hotel and restaurant with reduced building lines, after staff said the developer had engaged the neighborhood and staff found requirements met.
The Houston Planning Commission approved variances and the associated plat for a mixed hotel-and-restaurant project in the Heights after staff recommended granting exceptions to Chapter 28 and Chapter 42.
Planner Devin Bridal presented item 107, describing a vacant two-acre tract near North Shepherd Drive with frontage on multiple rights-of-way. Bridal said the applicant requested a 4-foot awning building line and a 10-foot building line for the structure along North Shepherd Drive, and asked for variances to locate a hotel in a residential area and to allow access from a two-lane residential street. Bridal told commissioners the request had previously been granted on a prior submittal and that the project proposes a 14-room hotel, onsite parking and improvements to sidewalks and right of way.
Kevin Strickland, president of the Greater Heights Super Neighborhood, spoke in support and said the developer had engaged the community. "The developer's done a fantastic job of engaging with the community," Strickland said, and he urged the commission to approve the variances.
Bridal said staff received multiple written letters of support from nearby Laird Street residents and two letters of opposition raising traffic and safety concerns; staff recommended approval subject to standard CPC conditions. Commissioners asked questions about sidewalk connections and potential parking impacts; staff noted the project meets parking requirements and that on-street valet service originally proposed on Laird Street had been relocated into an on-site parking lot.
The commission voted to approve the requested variances from Chapter 28 and Chapter 42 and to approve the plat and conditions. The action was recorded by voice vote; the commission did not record a roll-call tally in the public portion of the transcript.
The approval requires the developer to provide right-of-way dedication and pedestrian improvements on Laird, Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets; staff said the project will connect sidewalks and add landscaping buffers where the developer controls the property. Commissioners and public commenters asked the developer to minimize construction impacts and keep neighborhood streets open during construction.
The developer and applicant representatives were present at the hearing and available for questions; the commission did not attach additional conditions beyond the standard CPC form conditions as noted in staff recommendation.
