Growth, Development, and Sprawl

Houston’s Growing Pains

During 2001, the growing realization that Houston’s quality of life is not considered desirable by many national organizations, and that the problem is not just about a badly managed “image,” began to expand from the environmental community to the highest business and political circles. At the end of the year, no significant public actions had been taken to begin to solve the problem, but the number of groups looking for solutions grew.

The national problem known as sprawl is development that distances people from daily needs and produces widely separated single use development. The results are the same everywhere: increased commute distance, worsening traffic congestion, increased air pollution, aesthetically displeasing landscapes, and a vanishing sense of community. Sprawl destroys important ecosystems and wildlife habitat and impinges on agricultural land. This highly inefficient development pattern also produces inequities in infrastructure spending and increased taxes to support far-flung private development.

At the end of 2000, Houston was widely seen as just one of the sprawl leaders in the United States, along with Atlanta, Dallas, and many others. Today Houston is nearly alone as the one city that is repeatedly held up as the example for “dumb growth” with no plans to change that direction. 

Approximately 4.5 million people live in the 8,778-square-mile, eight-county region surrounding Houston, and population is expected to double by 2025. Most growth in the Houston-Galveston area has historically been unregulated. Haphazard development has left the region the sixth most sprawling urban area in the country, according to a study produced by the Fannie Mae Foundation.[i] It has also left the region with the highest household cost for transportation of all metropolitan areas.[ii]

Smart Growth

Across the nation, local governments, organizations, and citizens are combating sprawl through smart growth, a set of development principles that emphasizes quality of life. Smart growth encourages walkable communities that mix housing, job sites, stores, and community space. It calls for revitalization of existing neighborhoods, diverse housing options, transportation choices, and citizen participation in development decisions. One of the key principles of smart growth is the efficient use and upgrading of existing infrastructure before adding new infrastructure.

Although most leaders in the Houston region have never embraced planning, they are beginning to realize that uncontrolled development has negative impacts on quality of life.  

Recent Progress

The discussion about quality of life reached new levels in 2001. Several new initiatives began and some other expanded their efforts substantially.

Connecting the Visions

In February 2001, the Gulf Coast Institute (GCI) hosted a conference titled Connecting the Visions: Creating the future we want in the Houston Gulf Coast. Participants studied and compared the many recent/current efforts to vision and plan for the region’s future. GCI created a summary document for the conference, outlining almost 40 of these visions, which is available at www.livablehouston.org. Significantly, partners in the conference were the Greater Houston Community Foundation and the Center for Houston’s Future.

The Center for Houston’s Future

The Center for Houston’s Future is a nonprofit foundation spun some years ago by the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP), the region’s premier business association. The Center published a report called Building Goals, a Strategic Plan, and Sustainable Business/Civic Leadership for Houston’s Future.  The report suggested that continuing to pursue the same policies that brought Houston to this point would cause the city to “fall short of its potential and be less competitive in the new economy. Our city will slowly dissipate its strength.” It proposed new work on three scenarios: “Human Capital” (education), “The Livable City,” and “Crossroads of the Global Economy.” The Center will develop a strategic plan and begin to work to assure a “a continuous flow of outstanding community leaders from the business community.” The report proposes that the Center take the lead in “focusing the community on the future.”

Groups Embrace Quality

In June 2001, a coalition of business leaders from the Greater Houston Partnership, local government, nonprofit, and community leaders launched the Quality of Life Coalition. The coalition focuses on improvements in four main areas: trees and landscaping, parks and bayous, billboards and signage, and litter and graffiti.

Quality Places

In 2001, the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) also started an initiative called Creating Quality Places. Although all the final products of this project are yet to be developed, H-GAC hopes to create a consensus document that lists the principles surrounding quality places, such as offering a variety of housing choices, embracing mixed use development, and being pedestrian friendly,

Houston Needs a Plan

In September, an initiative was launched to urge the City of Houston to being a comprehensive planning process. The proposal came from 1000 Friends of Houston, a project of the Gulf Coast Institute. The group called for “coordinating plans for transportation, land development, stewardship of our cultural heritage and natural resources, revitalization of neighborhoods, flood management, and many other issues.” 

R/UDAT

The Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects began a push for a “Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team” (R/UDAT) to study the means to begin comprehensive planning in both the City of Houston and the larger region. A previous R/UDAT, in 1990, called for comprehensive planning.

Smart Growth Initiative

In November 1999, a Smart Growth Initiative was begun that brought together business, government, and nonprofit community organizations to explore smart growth strategies for the region. The group, which is now called the Livable Houston Initiative, meets monthly and has initiated various projects that have begun to affect policy in the region.

Downtown Redevelopment

In the past few years, Houston’s central downtown has gone from a daytime employment center to a mixed-use area with various housing options and an active night life. New restaurants, shops, and refurbished apartment complexes sprout up weekly. Houston’s first “smart growth” development near downtown, Post Midtown Square, was recognized by the Sierra Club’s 2000 Smart Choices or Sprawling Growth report. The project provides a mixture of apartments, shops, and community space two blocks from downtown and near the Houston Metro Trolley line. In 2001, Post Midtown is still the only “smart growth” project in the area.

Main Street Master Plan

Making Main Street Happen, a foundation, began the effort to redesign Houston’s Main Street in 1994, and the Main Street Coalition, a public/private partnership created by Mayor Lee P. Brown, released its Main Street Master Plan in June of 2000. The document outlines plans to make the 8-mile Main Street corridor between Quitman on North Main and the Astrodome into the city's signature boulevard. Strategies include a unique entrance, landscaped open spaces, and a pedestrian friendly environment that mixes housing, shops, and restaurants. Houston’s first light rail line will run along the Main Street corridor (see Transportation section).

Houston 2000 Strategic Transportation Plan

A far-reaching document produced by the City of Houston’s Mayor’s office, this policy directive embraces smart growth and includes a mandate to link land use and transportation, produce pedestrian-friendly environments, improve air quality, and provide new mobility choices to Houstonians. The plan also envisions a new layer of pedestrian and bicycle transportation along the region’s bayous.

Land Assembly Redevelopment Authority

The Land Assembly Redevelopment Authority (LARA), a 2000 project launched by the City of Houston’s Planning Department was essentially stalled in 2001. A joint project of City of Houston, Harris County, and Houston Independent School District representatives, was designed to acquire and auction off some 8,000 to 15,000 tax delinquent properties within the City of Houston. The city could sell the land outright, but it also has the option of attaching planning restrictions to the properties before they are sold. Appropriate restrictions could encourage affordable housing, open space, and smart growth practices, but to date, but conflict with Harris County resulted in moving it to the City’s Community Development and Houston Department where it appears to be stalled.

What You Can Do

Affiliate yourself with the appropriate group

Changing the way Houston thinks about development will require a coalition of organizations. For information on how to join one of these groups, contact the Gulf Coast Institute, the lead smart growth organization in the region, at (713) 523-5757 or the Sierra Club at (713) 895-9309.

Let local government and developers know how you feel

Tell officials and developers that uncontrolled growth affects the quality of your life. Let them know that you support sensible planning that involves citizens.

Join your neighborhood civic association

Smart growth is intensely local and reflects the values and aspirations of neighborhoods. This is a quick way to get involved and bring smart growth principles to the area where you live.

Go to www.livablehouston.org for more information