A controversial Montrose Boulevard redesign plan is set to move forward with key revisions introduced by the Whitmire administration after board members of the area’s Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone voted to accept the changes Friday morning.
The Nov. 1 meeting drew over 120 attendees in person and online as polarized residents spoke for and against implementing revisions to the original boulevard overhaul plan.
The meeting was held by the Montrose TIRZ less than two weeks after the board first rejected a motion to move forward. Now that the motion passed, contractor Gauge Engineering will expedite a revised plan following the city’s new priorities for the roadway.
The meeting kicked off with a presentation by Muhammad Ali of Gauge Engineering, who said he had heard concerns after the last meeting and wanted to emphasize that the project’s original goals of improving drainage, improving safety and mobility and promoting a pedestrian-friendly environment would still be in effect.
“The only thing is we added a fourth objective, which is to preserve as many trees as possible,” Ali said, as well as adjusting plans for the road and sidewalk widths “consistent with the new city guiding mobility principles.”
Those new principles satisfied some attendees while drawing ire from others, whose comments were echoed by board members such as Jeffrey Watters who voted against the changes.
The new plan “suffers from a remarkable lack of vision,” Watters said, decrying the decision to leave the road’s lane widths at 12 feet and nix enlarged sidewalks.
See here for the previous update. Those of you who have a hankering to restore the Houston glory days of the early 80s, you’ve got the right Mayor. Those of us who’d like to see Houston move into the future, it’s now three years until the next mayoral election. Houston Landing has more.
May not be the Mayor we wanted, but the Mayor we deserved.
i dont get the over doing of bike infrastructure here…its just not a viable mode of everyday transit here. and even the biking community is only in heavy force in the non summer months. yes we can do the lil 1.5 ft lane with lil buffers on roads like montrose or richmond but making whole lanes with curbs that NEVER get used is a waste.