Developer wins right to build six-story tower closer to street

The Houston planning commission on Thursday approved a developer’s request to build a sixstory condominium tower on the edge of River Oaks that is 5 feet closer to the street than restrictions currently allow.

Six neighbors at the meeting spoke out against the building plans, which had been voted down by the planning commission in 2015 amid protests from neighbors of the site at 2406 Mimosa Drive.

“I’m concerned with the changing character of my neighborhood,” local resident David Brenner told the commission.

As sprawling Houston densifies, city planners must often weigh whether to waive current restrictions and allow largerfootprint developments for Inner Loop neighborhoods that often are defined by suburban-style homes or modest midcentury apartment buildings.

Developers of the proposed six-story, 10-unit Revere Park condominium tower were asking to build up to 4 and 5 feet from the property line instead of the required 10 feet.

They also said they would build new and larger sidewalks on the street.

Mary Lou Henry, a representative for the developer, told the commission that land use in the neighborhood was changing and that most new development brought townhomes that were also built closer to the street, without suburban-style front lawns. She noted in the 1980s, residents there were selling farmhouses their grandparents had owned.

Gordon Hire, who lives on Mimosa, contended that the condo tower would “dominate the neighborhood.”

Gary Domini worried about privacy on the fourth-floor terrace of his townhome adjacent to the proposed condo building.

Carlo DiNuzio, architect for the project, told the commission that if the variance was not improved, he would have to accommodate by adding an extra floor, a change that would not require an application.

Commission vice chairman Sonny Garza told the gathered neighbors, “This building will go up with or without this ordinance.”

“Sometimes we make choices between the lesser of two evils,” he said.

Following staff recommendation, the commission unanimously approved the variance request.