Thank you council member Bradford!

From: Bradford, C.O
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 9:14 PM
To: Parker, Annise - MYR; Feldman, David M. - LGL; Gafrick, Marlene - PD
Cc: Stardig, Brenda - CNL; Johnson, Jarvis - CNL; Clutterbuck, Anne L - CNL; Adams, Wanda E. - CNL; Sullivan, Mike - CNL; Hoang, Al - CNL; Pennington, Oliver - CNL; Gonzalez, Edward - CNL; Rodriguez, James - CNL; Costello, Stephen - CNL; Lovell, Sue - CNL; Noriega, Melissa - CNL; Bradford, C.O; Jones, Jolanda (1) - CNL

Subject: Historic Districts Reconsideration Process 
 

To:  Annise D. Parker, Mayor

From:  C.O. “Brad” Bradford, Houston City Council Member
  
Date:December 16, 2010
 
Subject:Historic Districts Reconsideration Process

Mayor Parker:
 
I am sending this correspondence in order to bring to your attention several issues which have been raised regarding the reconsideration of existing historic districts. 
 
The process by which existing and pending historic districts may be reconsidered by the property owners within those districts, is laid out in Subsection (c) of Section 33-227 of the Historic Preservation Ordinance (Ordinance), as amended by the 2010 Amendments. 
 
The Ordinance requires that specific actions be taken by the property owners requesting reconsideration, and by the Director of the Planning Department (Director) in the handling of and response to such requests.  After careful review, I have determined that the Planning Department Director failed to comply with the Ordinance in the following material ways.
 
The Planning Director has Failed to Properly Assign and Calculate Voting Rights

In order to initiate the reconsideration process, property owners must submit a form requesting such reconsideration.  This form must be signed by owners of at least 10% of the tracts within the Designated Historic District.  Following the receipt of a qualifying request, the Director must give notice to the owners of all properties within the historic district as shown on the most current Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) records.  The notice must also include a “card” intended to serve as a ballot for the purpose of casting votes. 
 
During the recent execution of the reconsideration process a form titled a “Historic District Reconsideration Petition” was the instrument used to identify the owners of the required 10% of the tracts within the historic district who sought reconsideration.  This form, created by the Director, includes a requirement to provide the Property Address, Block, Subdivision and HCAD Account Number for each property.  The form does not allow for the entry of multiple Property Addresses, Blocks, Subdivisions or HCAD Account Numbers. 
 
The Director’s own reconsideration form, (as well as the very similar ballot discussed in further detail below); clearly implies that each tract, as defined by Property Address, Block, Subdivision and HCAD Account Number is intended to be counted as a separate entity.  This is in compliance with the Ordinance’s original intent.
 
However, the Director has failed to assign or count votes in a manner consistent with this intent.  Instead, the Director has determined that if multiple tracts within the historic district are owned by a single person or entity, then that person or entity is entitled to only a single vote. 
 
This is improper, unfair, and must be corrected. 
 
Each tract as defined by Property Address, Block, Subdivision and HCAD Account Number entitles its owner to one vote per property identified.
 
The Planning Director has Failed to Provide a Ballot in Compliance with the Specific Requirements of the Ordinance

The Ordinance requires that once a qualifying request for reconsideration has been received by the Director, the Director must give notice to the owners of all properties within the historic district as shown on the most current Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) records.  In addition the Ordinance specifically requires that, “The notice must also include a card to be signed by the property owner and returned to the Planning and Development Department indicating whether the property owner does or does not support repeal of the designation of the historic district.”    
 
The Director has wholly and completely failed to comply with this provision in at least two separate respects. 
 
First, the Ordinance requires that a “card” be included in the notice, such card to be used as the voting ballot.  Much discussion of this voting method took place during public meetings and property owners were well aware that when the time to vote came they would be receiving a ballot card in order to vote. 
 
Instead of the required ballot card, the Director included along with the required notice, several pages of information.  One of these pages was a single sheet of paper titled, “Property Owner(s) Survey for Historic District Repeal.”  This form, created by the Director, bears a significant resemblance to the “Historic District Reconsideration Petition” form referenced above.  As an example, both forms include the requirement to provide the Property Address, Block, Subdivision and HCAD Account Number for each property.  Both forms bear the City Seal in the upper left hand corner, both forms are printed on 81/2” by 11” paper and both forms provide only one voting option, (this last similarity is discussed in more detail below). 
 
The Director contends that this single page form should suffice as the required ballot card. 
 
It does not. 
 
The remarkable similarities between the two forms, coupled with property owners’ expectation that their actual vote would be on a ballot card, caused significant confusion to many property owners who desired to a ballot.  When many of them received the “Property Owner(s) Survey for Historic District Repeal” they simply believed it to be another copy of the form they had previously received and discarded it, effectively denying them the ability to participate in the process. 
 
Secondly, the Ordinance clearly requires that the ballot card included with the notice “…be signed by the property owner indicating whether the owner does or does not support repeal of the designation of the historic district.”  The “Property Owner(s) Survey for Historic District Repeal” form, which the Director contends suffices for a ballot card, includes only a single voting option.  A property owner may only indicate that they want City Council to repeal the historic district designation.  The form does not provide a mechanism for indicating that a property owner does not support repeal. 
This glaring omission alone clearly serves to invalidate the use of the Director’s survey form in place of the required ballot card, as it is in direct violation of the plain language of the Ordinance. 
 
The Planning Director has Created an Unduly Burdensome and Unnecessarily Inflexible Process Not Required Nor Intended by the Ordinance

The Ordinance delegates to the Director the tasks of prescribing the form to be used by property owners for the purpose of initiating reconsideration of their historic district, as well as producing the ballot card to be used.  In carrying out these tasks the Director has created forms that have the chilling effect of suppressing participation in the process. 
 
The form titled, “Historic District Reconsideration Petition”, is the form created by the Director to initiate the reconsideration process.  This form requires the applicants to provide a considerable amount of information of a type not normally kept readily available to the average home owner.  For example, although most people have their home address committed to memory, very few know the block and lot description, or the HCAD account number, for the property they own or live on. 
 
The Ordinance requires only a request, signed by the owners of 10% of the tracts within the historic district.  Identification of each of the tracts, which are being represented by an owner’s signature, by street address is certainly reasonable, however the requirement of block and lot identification or HCAD account number serves merely to suppress participation. 
 
In addition, I have been informed that the “Property Owner(s) Survey for Historic District Repeal” form, which is intended to replace the ballot card, is not available online nor can property owners obtain replacement forms if the originals were lost or discarded as described above. 
 
These onerous information requirements, and the Director’s inflexibility in disallowing property owners to obtain replacement ballots, constitute an undue burden on those Houstonian’s who are entitled to participate freely and openly in the process of deciding the nature of their own neighborhoods.  
 
In closing, I respectfully request that the Administration immediately acknowledge the flaws that have occurred during the current attempt to implement the process of historic district reconsideration.  Further, the administration should take steps to ensure that the process is carried out in a manner that fully complies with the Ordinance requirements.  And finally, care should be given to ensure that discretionary decisions made by the Director demonstrate the intent and effect of providing all of the residents of these districts with the maximum possible opportunity to engage and participate regardless of their individual position on the issue. 
 
Respectfully submitted,


C.O. “Brad” Bradford
Houston City Council Member
 
cc:       David Feldman, City Attorney
            Legal Department
 
            Marlene Gafrick, Director
            Planning and Development Department
           
All Council Members
 

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