Detached Townhomes & What Houston Is Doing RIght

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

Another thing that has always struck me as odd about Houston's 'urban' residential neighborhoods are the complete... and I do mean complete... lack of retail of any kind mixed into the equation, which you'd think would come about organically at least here and there in a city that has no zoning laws to speak of.

You mean like this?

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by eschaton

somewhere like this is becoming pretty close to a rowhouse neighborhood.

But what's the point if it's functionally unwalkable, or at least extremely unpleasant for pedestrians? I see lots of densification, but it looks like suburban McMansions for DINKS or empty nesters, crammed into smaller lots, with no neighborhood-level planning.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by Crawford

But what's the point if it's functionally unwalkable, or at least extremely unpleasant for pedestrians? I see lots of densification, but it looks like suburban McMansions for DINKS or empty nesters, crammed into smaller lots, with no neighborhood-level planning.

You're right. It's really unfortunate that Houston doesn't have a Baron Haussmann to wipe entire existing neighborhoods off the map and replace them with cohesive, planned cityscapes.

[jtown,man]

Imagine if all Houstons townhomes had alleys.

The city would look and function radically different.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

You're right. It's really unfortunate that Houston doesn't have a Baron Haussmann to wipe entire existing neighborhoods off the map and replace them with cohesive, planned cityscapes.

This is true. Metros built during the auto age will probably never develop traditional walkability.

They can develop Potemkin Village-type enclaves, but short of demolishing everything and starting over, a Houston-type city will never be walkable.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

Imagine if all Houstons townhomes had alleys.

The city would look and function radically different.

It'd be great. A lot of them do. But we're talking about the replacement of already existing houses. Not every developer has the capital or opportunity to replace an entire block. Most of this is piecemeal. See my previous post about Baron Haussmann.

[Steely Dan]

as others have already mentioned, it's a shame that houston wasn't platted with alley ROWs baked in to every block.

that one simple tweak would've solved most of the issues of these street-facing garages with townhouses on top of them.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

Another thing that has always struck me as odd about Houston's 'urban' residential neighborhoods are the complete... and I do mean complete... lack of retail of any kind mixed into the equation, which you'd think would come about organically at least here and there in a city that has no zoning laws to speak of.

My understanding is while Houston has no use-based zoning, there are substantial parking minimums for retail establishments which basically preclude building urban-format retail on smallish parcels like this. Basically because they would need to build a garage to accommodate customers, and you can't do that very easily on a partial block when you are replacing 1-3 single-family homes.

Originally Posted by Crawford

But what's the point if it's functionally unwalkable, or at least extremely unpleasant for pedestrians? I see lots of densification, but it looks like suburban McMansions for DINKS or empty nesters, crammed into smaller lots, with no neighborhood-level planning.

Neighborhood planning is overrated. Most of the most beloved urban neighborhoods in the country were not master planned. That's part of what makes them charming places - that you can turn a corner and find something totally unexpected.

Again, this isn't perfect by any means. There are a half-dozen tweaks I would suggest. But it's virtually the only substantive amount of "missing middle" style housing being built in large amounts in an urban core in the U.S.

[DCReid]

I think better walkable density could be achieved in Houston and other cities like this if they encourage retail development on one main street or one set of connecting streets, preferably next to either a rail or bus stop, or even a main travel interchange. Are they doing that in Houston?

[llamaorama]

Perfect is the enemy of good. The ideal probably wouldn't be able to take root in a place like Houston. We are a car oriented city for now, so there's an inherent chicken and egg problem with urban development that doesn't incorporate garages or driveways. Also we don't have a lot of alleys so the townhome garages need to be up front. In time maybe things will change, but if they do that will be because this first wave of urban development created the density necessary to kickstart things.

I think as time goes on the city will eventually improve those streets with culverts and power lines. I agree those are awful, and I think neighborhoods like Cottage Grove are really held back by the piss poor streetscape. Lower Westheimer needs a road diet more than any other street in America. Also now there seems to be a second wave of more vertical mixed use developments that do have ground floor retail. Talking of course about newer stuff in the heights and along Washington.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

Perfect is the enemy of good. The ideal probably wouldn't be able to take root in a place like Houston.

It isn't good, though. There's no functional difference between these in-town townhouses and the exurban McMansions. It's just McMansions for people who don't have kids in the house, and who value being close to stuff, rather than good schools.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

Yeah I wish these were built up to the street and maybe there was an alley in the back of these like you see in Northeastern/Mid-Atlantic cities.

It's pretty tough to add alleyways decades later after the fact.

I've said for several years now. Houston has built up a lot of density, but it's not a good kind of density. That photo of the neighborhood above looks really impressive from the air, but then you ask....where can the people that live in this area walk to? I'd be bored walking in that area because all I'll be seeing is driveways and mediocre looking townhomes.

In that particularly area... they are probably a quarter mile walk from the Museum District, Herman Park, light rail strips, bars, and food.

Houston is a sun belt city so most people get around in there cars. Building more housing in the core means more reverse commuters, shorter trips than suburban counterparts, and slightly less people clearing pine forests in N/NW Houston.

[llamaorama]

Just imagine though, the only thing separating much of the west inner loop from being amazingly walkable and lovely is some sidewalk improvements.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by Crawford

But what's the point if it's functionally unwalkable, or at least extremely unpleasant for pedestrians? I see lots of densification, but it looks like suburban McMansions for DINKS or empty nesters, crammed into smaller lots, with no neighborhood-level planning.

I guess ask the people that have purchased or rented the 75000 units built in central Houston.

What's the point? LOL.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

Just imagine though, the only thing separating much of the west inner loop from being amazingly walkable and lovely is some sidewalk improvements.

Agreed.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by DCReid

I think better walkable density could be achieved in Houston and other cities like this if they encourage retail development on one main street or one set of connecting streets, preferably next to either a rail or bus stop, or even a main travel interchange. Are they doing that in Houston?

Yeah I think the main problem here (other than the driveways and garages) is that there appears to be no mixed use in the neighborhood at all. The only nearby commercial are strip-malls on main busy roads.

[benp]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Houston's densification is about as good as you can get considering Houston doesn't have traditional use-based zoning, but does have some level of form-based zoning which includes setbacks and parking minimums (and unfortunately, no requirement to build sidewalks).

Another issue is that - unfortunately - the city lacks alleys, which means there's no out-of-the-way place to stick the off-street parking. This is particularly the case because typically these mini-developments happen through the replacement of a few houses at a time (with say three new houses where one suburban home used to be) meaning master-planning is impossible.

But given the limitations, somewhere like this is becoming pretty close to a rowhouse neighborhood.

This is your link at street level - I just grabbed a couple points at random.
https://goo.gl/maps/28BwpCZZM65N4zyaA
https://goo.gl/maps/PqTtF49XZkbyePYN6

A mix along with bungalows, sometimes no sidewalks, drainage ditches - a hodgepodge overall - opposite of a row house neighborhood. Some complaints are that the townhomes often replace sfh 2 to 1 on the same lot, and take away all on-street parking from the neighborhood because of their driveways. No front yards, no "neighborhood" really on some streets that are all townhomes, people drive in and shut the door, no need to see neighbors. Only row house similarity is a postage stamp sized back yard.

But, it is what it is and they are popular among people that want a "house" and can't afford a "real" home with a yard in these inner loop neighborhoods. I know several people that bought these, mainly because they are "new" (ie no maintenance), centrally located, and relatively low cost for inside the loop. Just the land costs in these areas is around 75 to 150/sf, so for many these are the only options.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by mhays

If they can get these down to one parking space it'll do a lot for both the cityscape and affordability. Maybe they can also do some shared driveways if alleys don't exist.

A $600k+ townhouse with only one parking space will never fly in car happy Houston. When we were townhouse shopping, it had to have space for two cars side by side (we have three). Our house has a single width drive way (built around a 150 year old tree) and it's a pain in the ass.

As for shared driveways, they have their downsides such as sharing it with a shitty neighbor. My aunt had this problem.

[BnaBreaker]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

You mean like this?

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I was referring to the neighborhoods of detatched townhomes the article was referencing.

Originally Posted by eschaton

My understanding is while Houston has no use-based zoning, there are substantial parking minimums for retail establishments which basically preclude building urban-format retail on smallish parcels like this. Basically because they would need to build a garage to accommodate customers, and you can't do that very easily on a partial block when you are replacing 1-3 single-family homes.

That is new information for me! Thank you for that. That actually clears things up quite a bit.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

Yeah I wish these were built up to the street and maybe there was an alley in the back of these like you see in Northeastern/Mid-Atlantic cities.

I've said for several years now. Houston has built up a lot of density, but it's not a good kind of density. That photo of the neighborhood above looks really impressive from the air, but then you ask....where can the people that live in this area walk to? I'd be bored walking in that area because all I'll be seeing is driveways and mediocre looking townhomes.

I feel like LA suffers from the same exact problem. It looks really impressive, dense and urban from above, but then you get to the street and it's like this: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0262...7i16384!8i8192

The worst part is LA neighborhoods have alleys, they could have easily hid all the parking but the developers just didn't give a damn.