This Week at City Hall

Jun. 22, 2018Office of Council Member Ellen Cohen

This Week: Celebrating Houston Pride Week; Committee to Consider Heights Historic District Design Guidelines; Community meeting on Chapter 19, Houston’s Floodplain Ordinance, and proposed changes to Chapters 9 and 13 of the Infrastructure Design Manual.

Celebrating Houston Pride Week

The 40th Annual Houston LGBT Pride Festival and Parade takes place thisSaturday, June 23rd. This iconic event attracts over 500,000 attendees from all over the world and is the 4th largest Pride celebration in the US. The festival begins at 12PM and the Parade begins at 8PMat the corner of Smith St at Lamar St. The events are free and open to the public. Expect street closures in the downtown area from Friday, June 22nd at 7PM through Sunday, Jun 24th at 2AM. Mayor Pro Tem Cohen stands in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community and looks forward to celebrating her 12th year participating in the Pride Parade!

Committee to Consider Heights Historic District Design Guidelines

The June meeting of the Council Committee on Quality of Life has been rescheduled toThursday, June 28th at 10AM in Council Chambers at City Hall. Chair Cohen and committee members will receive presentations from the Texas Pace Authority on the Property Assessed Clean Energy Program (PACE); and from the Houston Planning and Development Department regarding the proposed Design Guidelines for the Heights East, West, and South Historic Districts. All committee meetings are open to the public and include the opportunity for public comment. The meeting will be live-streamed and archived online via HTV.

What’s Happening in the District

On Thursday, June 28thThe Houston Public Works Department will host a community meeting in District C to share information on the recent changes to Chapter 19, Houston’s Floodplain Ordinance, and proposed changes to Chapters 9 and 13 of the Infrastructure Design Manual. The new proposed changes include:

  • Eliminating the detention credit for redevelopment so that redevelopments are required to provide the same amount of detention as new developments;
  • Requiring all developments (not just those larger than one acre) to demonstrate protection of overland sheet flow;
  • Lowering thresholds for the requirement for fill and grade permits and engineered grading plans; and
  • Allowing sites to be graded to drain to outfalls outside of the public right-of-way.

The meeting will take place 6PM-8PM at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston (5601 S. Braeswood Blvd, 77096).

The Department is seeking public input on their suggestions through Monday, July 30th.