The Texas Supreme Court recently ruled on the case of Powell v. City of Houston. The plaintiffs had claimed that Houston’s preservation ordinance violated the city charter, which prohibits zoning without a referendum. The preservation ordinance, the plaintiffs held, is a form of zoning. In its ruling, the Court agreed that the ordinance is zoning,…
An inevitable result of government’s growing intervention in economic matters is a conflict between various policy goals. An example of these conflicting goals is the goal of preserving historic buildings and the goal of providing affordable housing. A common feature of preservation ordinances is that repairs to an existing building must use “in-kind” materials. For…
Destruction has a negative connotation, but in fact, destruction can be a good thing. For example, since January 2020, much of the world’s focus has been on containing and destroying the coronavirus. Only a misanthrope would regard the destruction of the deadly virus to be bad because doing so means the elimination of something that…
Government officials frequently cite the government’s police powers as a justification for their policies. While this can seem plausible in some situations, the City of Houston has decreed that this includes dictating what color individuals may paint their home. This past week, the Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Powell v. City of Houston….
A Houston couple has sued the City of Houston over its preservation ordinance. The case is due to be heard by the Texas Supreme Court on January 5. The couple’s suit claims that Houston’s preservation ordinance constitutes zoning. Houston’s charter requires a citywide referendum before zoning can be implemented, and no such referendum was held…
Voltaire is widely credited with saying, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” This quote, whether Voltaire actually said it, is often cited by defenders of free speech. Those who write or speak popular ideas have little fear of government reprisal. But those who…
A new state law requires a three-fourths vote by zoning commissions that want to designate a property as historic over the owner’s wishes. Austin, which previously required a two-thirds vote in such situations, recently found that the new law might stymie some of its attempts at historic preservation. The city’s Historic Landmark Commission recently met…
The Court of Appeals First District of Texas recently ruled that Houston’s preservation ordinance doesn’t violate the city charter, which prohibits zoning. In the ruling, the court found that preservation ordinances are often a part of zoning, but the plaintiffs presented no authority indicating that the legislature’s grant of authority to pass zoning laws displaces…
The city of Cuero has a vacant building ordinance that requires property owners to maintain vacant buildings or else. And as with anything involving government, or else means that you will be fined, sent to jail, or have your property seized. Defenders of the ordinance make a number of arguments in favor of issuing threats…
A recent opinion piece in the Houston Chronicle asks, “Why can’t Montrose protect its trees?” The simple answer is, Montrose doesn’t own any trees. Montrose is a neighborhood and the trees on private property are owned by the property owner. But this answer isn’t good enough for the author. The author–Clifford Pugh–laments that “some will…
The Austin Historic Landmark Commission recently ruled against designating the former home of a Texas Supreme Court justice an historical landmark worthy of government protection. According to the Austin Monitor, While commissioners determined that the house in question, 3204 Bridle Path, could be repaired, they did not find it architecturally significant enough to encourage that…
More than fifty Texas governments have passed some form of historic preservation laws. Such laws typically prohibit demolition of a designated structure and mandate that any repairs or additions to a building maintain the architectural integrity of the building. Some of these ordinances allow for an historic designation to be applied to a building even…