Effective October 1, 2020, the Planning and Development Department will provide applications for Walkable Places Plan (WPP), TOD amendments, Special Parking Area (SPAs), modification of sidewalks and pedestrian realm standards. For more information, visit http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/.
This following is for archive purposes only.
The City Engineer has issued the following policy on sidewalk requirements:
Prior practices of granting variances left it unclear how to handle certain situations and created more confusion. The Office of the City Engineer has been working with the City Attorney’s Office to determine the best course of action. Developing a simple process to identify when a sidewalk is required and eliminating the burden of requesting a variance is a better path forward for the time being.
Effective immediately, sidewalks will be required:
- Along all major thoroughfares regardless of development type,
- Along all streets abutting commercial and multi-family developments regardless of the street type,
- Along any street abutting a single family residential property if the property meets all the following criteria:
- It is a single-family lot, or part of a single family development,
- The street in front of the property is concrete or asphalt, curb and gutter design or roadside ditch with a minimum of 5 feet clearance between the property line and the high bank of the ditch, and,
- There is a sidewalk on either side of the property, or the property has or had a sidewalk prior to the redevelopment of the lot.
Applications for sidewalk variances or exceptions are no longer required. If an applicant believes sidewalks are required under this policy, but do not agree with the requirement, they will have to meet with the City Engineer and present a case for variance under the general authority of the City Engineer. The OCE and CA will be working together to develop an ordinance to clearly spell out sidewalk requirements and exceptions. In the meantime, the OCE will follow is policy.
Posted date:
February 21, 2019