IMPORTANT NEWS

RUDH WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBERS & PRESIDENT

Rob Task has been elected as President of RUDH and to the Board of Directors.  Nick Urbano, RUDH’s first President and founder, resigned as President due to his heavy travel schedule for work.  Nick is still a member of the Board of Directors of RUDH and is still working closely with RUDH.  RUDH also added two new Directors:  Jeff Jackson and Colton Candler.

TRAFFIC BATTLE REACHES CRITICAL STAGE

RUDH has retained Joe Nix, Senior Traffic Engineer from Civil Engineering Consultants to review the traffic impact analysis for the Ainbinder Walmart development. RUDH will be releasing Mr. Nix’s analysis very soon. RUDH has previously expressed concern regarding the impact of the Ainbinder Walmart development to members of Council at a public meeting hosted by RUDH and to City staff in a private meeting.

The developer has now submitted a final traffic impact analysis. RUDH does not believe that its concerns have been met.  Specifically, there has been no resolution of the Yale St. bridge. This bridge cannot handle loaded semi-trailers making deliveries to Walmart (the City of Houston actually proposed using Yale St. for deliveries as a solution to truck traffic in adjoining residential neighborhoods). Further, there has been no satisfactory resolution of the failing intersection at Yale and the new I-10 feeder and the safety concerns of a proposed connection of Bass St. to the new I-10 feeder. There are numerous other technical issues that have not been addressed.

RUDH is seeking a meeting with all of the stakeholders: the City of Houston, the developer and TxDOT.  RUDH has met with State Representative Jessica Farrar and with members of U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee’s staff to try to bring all the parties to the table to resolve the traffic issues.  RUDH has been assured by the City that they will meet with RUDH and its traffic engineer before the City approves the traffic impact analysis.  So far, no meeting has been set.

EDUCATION & COMMUNITY SUPPORT
RUDH has also been working to educate the area community organizations. RUDH has made presentations to Super Neighborhoods 15 and 22, the West End Civic Club, the Houston Heights Association, the Citizens Transportation Coalition and the Woodland Heights Association.  To date, the West End Civic Club and Woodland Heights Association have sent letters of support to the City, echoing RUDH’s concerns regarding the traffic impact of the development.  The Houston Heights Association has also indicated to us that they have sent a letter of concern to the City.

RUDH FIGHTS FOR ACCESS TO DRAINAGE PERMITTING DOCUMENTS
Drainage is a critical issue. The Walmart development will turn what is currently a grassy field into strip mall covered by parking lots and buildings with metal roofs.  Water that is now held onsite by dirt and vegetation will need to go somewhere. The best practice is to hold excess storm water onsite in drainage detention ditches. The City requires a certain amount of drainage detention for every acre of additional impervious cover, like concrete and buildings. The $6.05 million tax reimbursement agreement with the City (a/k/a the “380 Agreement”) gives the developer over $300,000.00 to construct onsite drainage detention. Yet, we have reason to believe that the Walmart developer is trying to avoid constructing any onsite drainage detention, even though taxpayers will reimburse the construction!

RUDH made a public information request in late January seeking drainage documents submitted to the City of Houston for the Walmart development.  RUDH knew that the City was in possession of the documents because the City has a public online permit tracking system.  The City responded ten days later, claiming that they did not have any documents.  After further inquiry, RUDH learned that the City returned the relevant documents to the developer (the permit application was rejected with comments from the City for resubmission) on the same day it responded to RUDH.  At the very least, the City should not have surrendered possession of documents subject to a public information request.

RUDH brought this issue to the attention of City Council at a public session last week and made numerous inquiries to Council Members seeking an explanation, but, more importantly, a commitment to provide resubmitted permit documents without having to play games with a public information request. RUDH was promised a response from the City Attorney. RUDH has not received any response from the City Attorney and no commitment from the City to provide the documents without requiring a public information request.
On Wednesday, March 9, 2011, RUDH learned that the developer had resubmitted plans to the City for the Walmart development. RUDH has submitted a public information request.  RUDH is prepared to file suit to compel the City to timely release these documents if necessary.  The City’s review of permits moves very quickly.  RUDH will not let the City thwart public oversight of this process by wrongfully denying or delaying citizens’ access to critical documents.

GET INVOLVED!
Things are moving very quickly. We are at a critical stage. We need your support in a number of ways:

1. Watch our website (www.stopheightswalmart.org) and Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/StopHeightsWalMart) for important letter/email campaigns coming up very soon. We need the stakeholders to know that thousands in the community are concerned and will not accept a rubber stamping of this development.  We will have an important update on Monday on the drainage documents and traffic meeting.  We anticipate that we will need to put serious pressure on the City to provide the drainage documents and come to the table to address the traffic issues.  Your voice does count.  Past email/letter campaigns yielded quick results.

2. Speak at City Council. We need volunteers to speak at Tuesday sessions at City Council to express their concerns over this development. City Council needs to know that the community will not back down. Contact RUDH if you want to speak to Council.  We will help organize talking points. No council next week.  But we want to turn out in force the week after.

3. Watch for important updates in your email from RUDH. We have been meaning to provide regular updates in a newsletter for a while. However, we did not want to bury our supporters in endless details about preliminary permit submissions, draft traffic impact analysis and the fine points of the public information process. We are now in the critical permitting stages and will provide regular updates via email.  The next few weeks are pivotal. Stay informed and stay in touch.

4. Continue to support RUDH financially. Our last fundraising letter was an amazing success. We would not have been able to hire our traffic engineer without your financial support. We anticipate that we will need to hire a hydrologist to review the drainage plans submitted by the developer (assuming that we can actually get the City to respond to our open records request). Watch for upcoming fundraising events on the website and facebook page. Go to Stopheightswalmart.org or rudh.org to donate online. You can also mail donations (checks, no cash please) to Responsible Urban Development for Houston, Responsible Urban Development for Houston is a 501(c)4 non-profit organization. Donations to Responsible Urban Development for Houston are not tax deductible.

Click here to donate. or if you prefer, you may mail your donation to:

Responsible Urban Development for Houston
PO Box 7834
Houston, TX  77270

5. Join RUDH. RUDH is now open for membership. RUDH members will have the right to attend the annual meeting of the board of directors and vote to elect or re-elect the board members. A membership link will be up on RUDH.org and Stopheightswalmart.org within the next few days.

6.  Support the Local Business Coalition. Go to Stopheightswalmart.org for information and a complete list of our Local Business Coalition members.  Keep the Heights Local.

Take a quick look at RUDHs most recent Open Records Request experience.  Thanks to the City’s own Plan Check Inquiry site, the public knows when plans are in the City’s hands, yet they are still not released. Make Public Records Public!