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Ashby Highrise Information
High Rise Development Comes to our Neighborhood: Another Affront to our Quality of Life from Outsiders
Picture the shadow a 266-foot building casts over a surrounding neighborhood of 30-foot homes in winter and summer. Visualize what will happen to traffic on neighborhood two-lane streets when you add 500 more cars each day emptying out of a high-rise. Imagine the joy of looking out from your lovely garden into a six story parking garage which is 10 feet away and a 23-story tower rising 266 feet into the air.
Kevin Kirton and Matthew Morgan, principals in a company known as Buckhead Investments, have purchased the property currently known as Maryland Manor on the corner of Bissonnet and Ashby. Their intent is to reshape our concept of urban living by placing a 23 story high rise in our midst. These two gentleman do not live in Houston but prefer the restricted areas of West University and Southside Place, where local development regulations (zoning) provide protection against out of scale projects.
Help fight this project by signing the petition:
On the web at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Ashby_Highrise or click here download the PDF.
Please write letters to our elected officials!
Direct Link to the Latest Highrise Information
Past Newsletters Availible Online
Click here to access past issues of the SHCC Newsletter.
Trash Rate Increase
Trash collection is provided by WCA / Waste Corporation of Texas. Effective September 1, rates will increase by $5.61 per month. A letter to the neighborhood explaining the basis for the increase was mailed to all Southampton households on July 23, 2007. If you have questions or to set up an account, contact WCA at 281-368-8397. Payments are due on September 1, December 1, March 1 and June 1. Service may be interrupted for accounts that are not paid by the 20th of the month in which they are due. See requirements for trash collection for more information.
Clinic Building to Tower over Southampton
The Civic Club is opposing a planned expansion by the Medical Clinic of Houston, which includes construction of an 88 foot elevation, 130,000 sq. ft. clinic and adjoining 600 car parking garage, projected for construction on the open lot bounded by Sunset, Cherokee, and Rice. The resulting complex will more than triple the clinic size of the present facility, allowing it to function both as a greatly expanded clinic and as a satellite facility of the Methodist Hospital. Construction was originally slated to begin in June 2007. Limited information on the project is posted at MCH's website. The graphic illustrations presented on the MCH site present a distorted view that minimizes the visual impact of this ugly, out of scale project.
The reasons for our opposition to this project are summarized in two documents: Why Oppose the MCH/Methodist Medical Clinic Expansion? outlines the reasons why the project will both immediately damage the neighborhood and pose worrisome long term risks for the neighborhood. The second document is a legal memorandum entitled High Risk Neighbors: Methodist Hospital and the Texas Medical Center Have Statutory Power to Condemn Property, Including Property Subject to Deed Restrictions. This document outlines the threat posed by the power of medical center institutions to condemn land, including land covered by residential deed restrictions.
Also posted are our letter to the Clinic and a similar letter from Boulevard Oaks Civic Association, for the initial list of our concerns and questions about this project. The Clinic's response to our letter is also posted on this site. Additional information can be found in the Southampton Winter newsletter and at our MCH update page.
NSRP Option for Streets and Alleys
Citizens can request reconstruction of residential streets using the city's Neighborhood Street Reconstruction process. The NSRP petition form is posted on the City's website. Southampton Civic Club recently asked the City to clarify how the NSRP petitions for alleys would be treated. Director of Public Works and Engineering Michael Marcotte's response is posted here.
Deed Restrictions Interested Goup
An informal group of Southampton residents has been meeting for over a year to discuss renewal of Southampton's deed restrictions. If you are interested in participating, please contact Clark Martin for more information. The Deed Restrictions Interested Group, which is not currently a committee of Southampton Civic Club, has asked us to post this initial notice to Southampton Property Owners concerning the Group's efforts.