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Bellaire Planning Commission backs tighter CMU rules, lowers routine building height to 40 feet
Summary
The Bellaire Planning & Zoning Commission recommended amendments to the Corridor Mixed Use (CMU) ordinance on Nov. 13 that lower the standard commercial/mixed-use building height to 40 feet and extend front setbacks on larger lots; the package and a recommendation letter will go to city council.
The Bellaire Planning & Zoning Commission voted Nov. 13 to recommend a set of changes to the city’s Corridor Mixed Use (CMU) zoning designed to reduce the “canyon effect” of taller buildings close to the street and to require public plan-development review for larger proposals.
Commissioners approved an amendment to the draft ordinance that lowers the routine maximum height for commercial and mixed-use development to 40 feet and makes any proposal above that height subject to plan-development (PD) review. For lots larger than 150 feet of depth the commission also approved increasing the minimum front-yard distance (from 15 to 20 feet) and shifting the point at which the front height-setback plane begins five feet deeper into the lot.
Planning staff said the changes are intended to preserve street-level openness and protect nearby residential areas while still allowing redevelopment. “What I’m proposing is bring the height down to 40 feet across the board,” the senior planner said during the discussion. Staff described the front height-setback plane as a design control that begins to require upper-story step-backs once a building’s front line reaches about 26 feet in elevation.
Councilmember Catherine Lewis, who briefed the commission on the Bellair Makers District concept earlier in the meeting, urged caution about loopholes in setback language and asked commissioners to consider the district’s traffic and floodplain constraints. “If you set it back 20 feet, you can go all the way up to 40 or 53 feet,” Lewis warned during her presentation, calling that a potential loophole staff has tried to close with the proposed plane and reduced heights.
The commission also clarified how residential components fit into CMU: multifamily residential would only be allowed as part of a mixed-use development and any multifamily component must be approved through PD review rather than by right. Townhouse-style ownership units remain possible as part of mixed-use projects but are limited by a commercial-floor-area requirement (the draft referenced two commercial uses of roughly 5,000 square feet each as a baseline). Staff reiterated that live-work units remain a specific-use item subject to additional review rather than a by-right accessory use.
A motion to adopt the commission’s amendment — which the commission’s chair summarized as applying the increased setback/height-setback for lots greater than 150 feet — passed on a voice vote and the chair announced the motion carried. The commission then approved the draft recommendation letter to city council to reflect the amendment and to record the commission’s views: the packet will note a 5–0 vote with one abstention (Commissioner Zito) over multifamily language.
The commission asked staff to include the lot-depth tiers and the adopted setback adjustments in the recommendation letter to council. The matter will now move to city council for consideration, where the council may conduct further hearings and votes.
