How would Houston be and look if the zoning was "normal"? (Austin: 2014, how much)

[Neo45]

I wonder how much different the city would be?

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by Neo45

I wonder how much different the city would be?

Why don't you tell us what your zoning plan would be ? Would you zone the entire city or just ITL or an area out to a couple miles outside the loop ? Would all vacant land not deed restricted be zoned commercial ? Would you have height restrictions next to neighborhoods? If residential property is not deed restricted now would you allow commercial development and vice-versa?

Everybody talks about the need for zoning but I bet there are a thousand ideas about what that zoning would be. If they did pass some kind of zoning ordinance there would be a thousand complaints that it is too much or not enough. This debate would make the debate on what to do with the Dome seem decisive.

[Neo45]

Hey I just want to see every skyline built next to each other LOL

[Dopo]

Why do people hate freedom? (no zoning laws)

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Why do people hate freedom? (no zoning laws)

Lol, good one! Zing.

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by Neo45

Hey I just want to see every skyline built next to each other LOL

So you would ban any more high rise development outside of downtown ? Are you going to somehow transplant high rises in TMC and Uptown to vacant lots downtown? What does "normal" zoning mean ?

[Weatherguy]

We have zoning in Austin, but there are so many variances that it ends up similar to Houston.

[gsmj]

I've always wondered how Houston's skyline would look if zoning had required all high rises to be built in the downtown (and adjacent) area. As impressive and "Chicago-esque" as I'd like to think it would be, I have to assume zoning (and the increased costs associated with it) would have discouraged many from ever being built in the first place.

Either way, it's 2014. Has no one invented a computer program that could produce such a rendering of a "high rise zoned to only downtown Houston"?

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by gsmj

I've always wondered how Houston's skyline would look if zoning had required all high rises to be built in the downtown (and adjacent) area. As impressive and "Chicago-esque" as I'd like to think it would be, I have to assume zoning (and the increased costs associated with it) would have discouraged many from ever being built in the first place.

Either way, it's 2014. Has no one invented a computer program that could produce such a rendering of a "high rise zoned to only downtown Houston"?

I've seen some guys photoshop the WTC & other towers in Houston's skyline for giggles but never seen anyone attempt to patchwork every Houston skyline into one.

You can kinda see it from certain panoramic angles though where all of the skylines merge into one so its really not necessary. That's been show cased many times. Especially from the Beltway overpass in West Houston & East Houston over the Ship Channel Bridge.

[Nairobi]

Everytime I'm in Baton Rouge I think "this is what Houston would look like with zoning".

I would appreciate a cleaner, more manicured, and more organized looking Houston, but instead of the strict zoning found elsewhere, I wish we'd followed Miami's footsteps with their form based code.