In an attempt to take action following Hurricane Harvey, the City of Houston has taken an aggressive, accelerated and largely emotional response by adopting onerous building and drainage regulation changes that went into effect on …
Advertisement
Congressman John Culberson at Developers Council
On August 1, the GHBA Developers Council hosted Congressman John Culberson (CD-7) who discussed his work on securing federal funds for Harvey recovery and infrastructure projects in his role as a subcommittee chairman of the …
FINAL OPEN HOUSE for Chapter 19 Guidelines
Members encouraged to attend Thursday, June 28 from 6pm-8pm The public comment period for the proposed guidelines for the recently adopted major changes to Chapter 19, the City’s Floodplain Regulation Ordinance, ends on Friday, June …
City of Houston Passes Ordinance Expanding Regulation in Floodplains
Last week the Houston City Council voted to dramatically increase regulations on building within the 100 and 500 year floodplains. The proposal to amend Chapter 19, the City’s Floodplain Regulation Ordinance, was first introduced in …
Advertisement
WCR Application Process Reset
The Houston Permitting Center is working to improve the Wastewater Capacity Reservations (WCR) application process. On May 1, the Houston Permitting Center launched a new process that introduced an appointment feature to schedule and process …
A Win for Land Development, Homebuilding Nationwide
Update: Waters of the U.S. / Clean Water Act Executive Order On June 29, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) finalized their much-discussed joint Clean Water …
Fort Bend County Publishes New Street Acceptance Guidelines
After meeting with members of the GHBA Developers Council, engineers, contractors, builders and other stakeholders beginning last December over questions and concerns with regards to street acceptance policies, the Fort Bend County Engineering Department published …
Advertisement
Reminder: Compaction Verification Requirement
Compaction verification is required for projects in which the foundation design requires compaction to be a specific density. This Special Inspection requirement can be met in the form of a letter from the design professional …
85th Texas Legislature Now in Session
At noon on January 10, members of the Texas Senate and House of Representatives gathered in their respective chambers at the Capitol to convene the 85th legislative session. That began the 140 day countdown to …
GHBA Government Affairs to Serve on COH Platting Standards Committee
The GHBA has been invited to participate in the upcoming Planning Commission Committee on Platting Standards. This committee will have two primary responsibilities: Consider and make recommendations on potential changes to the planning standards of …
City of Houston IECC Solar Readiness Requirements In Effect Nov. 28
During the 84th Texas Legislative Session, the legislature passed House Bill 1736 which mandated a new minimum energy code for most new residential construction and some remodeling work beginning on September 1, 2016. In September, …
What’s Not Being Said About MUDs
Recently, the Houston Chronicle published an article about a Municipal Utility District, Fort Bend County MUD 187, and the dissatisfaction of some homeowners that the MUD might issue bonds, which they believe could raise their …
GHBA Gets the First Quarterly Progress Report on Special Revenue Fund
As we have previously reported, in the fall of 2015 the City of Houston Planning and Development Department (P&D) introduced a proposal to create a special revenue fund (SRF) to collect development fees, along with …
It’s Good to be in Houston, Texas!
Well, not so much in the summer. The Houston Association of Realtors reported that Houston set a record for the first half of 2016, with over 36,000 sales. This was a 2.7% increase over the …
GHBA Submits Letter Regarding IRS Proposed MUD Regulations
Earlier this year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released proposed Treasury Regulations which, if enacted, would greatly change the guidelines for defining a “political subdivision” for purposes of issuing tax-exempt bonds. Specifically, to be considered …