HOUSTON – Houstonians are fighting to keep their heritage from being replaced.
Gentrification is now the buzzword for tearing down what’s old to replace it with something more modern.
After telling you about issues in one area, we are learning many more of you have the same problem.
KPRC 2 Investigates is getting answers.
Houston’s building permit process: Calls for streamlining and better tracking
Those surrounding the city’s permitting department say there is a lack of communication with the building permits.
We first discussed it during ‘Our Town: Sunnyside.’ In that story, those in power to enforce deed restrictions asked the city to halt projects it approved because they were in violation.
Those requests go to the city attorney and mostly come from civic clubs. They are similar to home associations but don’t have the same requirements.
We spoke to the owners of two of the duplexes after our first story ran.
Michael Slater told KPRC 2 Investigates that he thought he was doing the Sunnyside community a service by building a duplex on a plot of land he said was passed down by his grandfather.
“I mean, this is just ridiculous. Damage has been done just sitting here,” he says.
Slater is upset because his home built for two families was halted for months by the city’s legal department.
“The plans were approved, and, you know, right in the middle of the building, in a very vulnerable stage, the city red flags are saying that we’re indeed, violating deed restrictions,” Slater adds.
He said his builder spoke with the city several times to build the duplex before getting the permit, but that didn’t matter.
Jerome Love faces a similar setback.
“I found out that we had been red-tagged while I was actually waiting to get a final inspection,” he says.
That was in November of 2023.
Now, his plot of land has become an illegal dumping ground.
“I feel like what we’ve built is something that’s improving the community,” Love adds. “I believe that at the end of the day, we all have the same goal. The city of Houston wants to see our neighborhoods improve, our economic base increase. I believe that’s what the civic association wants. That’s certainly what I want as well.”
Following deed restrictions are important to the civic clubs. Again, they stopped both projects due to deed restrictions.
More than 200 civic clubs across Houston can make similar requests to the city attorney. Many projects are stopped in the middle of the work because not all civic clubs get permit activity reports from the city.
“If I don’t know that there’s work going, why would I check to see if there’s a permit,” says Gena Sylvester with the Robindell Civic Club in Southwest Houston.
Like other civic clubs, we spoke with, Sylvester is the main person who looks for violations to prevent her area from declining.
“There just needs to be more communication with what’s going on in the neighborhoods and how to protect those neighborhoods,” Sylvester said.
Nineteen miles northeast is Huey German-Wilson, who oversees Super Neighborhood 48, comprising various civic clubs, and advocates for streamlining the permit process.
“This is the City of Houston,” she said. “We’re the fourth largest city in the country. Why can’t we, why can’t we track things better?”
Back in the Sunnyside neighborhood, Love is considering taking his matter to civil court. He believes his duplex meets city requirements.
Slater said he’s in the process of getting his home built to the single-family home restrictions in Sunnyside.
Lack of communication with Houston permitting department
Both of the men share that if the civic clubs were on the same page as the city with the building permits, maybe the projects could have been halted before construction took place.
Public Works reps first told us they issue a permit activity report upon request so civic clubs and neighbors can track what’s going on.
With more than 40 civic clubs responding to our questions, only nine shared they got the report.
KPRC 2 Investigates ask questions, get results
After we started asking questions, the city made it even easier for civic clubs, the HOAs, and even you to get the permit activity reports from the city’s website. Now, you can see the active report, and request the report to go to your emails.
To access the permit activity report, click here.
“It seems that as though it would resolve some of our issues,” German-Wilson adds.
West Riverside Civic Club’s Martha Failing tells us, “Thank you for the link. This is valuable to the neighborhood.”
Several other civic clubs agree the move by the city will prevent their neighborhoods from declining and gets them on the same page.
Have a question or problem you want the KPRC 2 Investigates team to look into? Email us at Investigates@kprc.com.