Texas Supreme Court puts another obstacle in the way, despite major demolition backlog.
The city of Houston currently has more than 8,000 homes and buildings listed as dangerous and in need of demolition, some of which have been on the list for years.
But the wait to make the buildings safe and towards regeneration has been dealt a heavy blow by a Texas Supreme Court ruling that will make it even more difficult, and significantly slower, to obtain permission to demolish these structures.
The ruling entitles property owners of structures deemed dangerous and a public nuisance to an independent judicial review before a city can tear them down.
But it isn’t just the ruling that bogged things down. Just the threat alone was enough for the city to put the brakes on many of the scheduled demolitions last year. And buildings that had already been condemned were left to languish and rot away.”
“Because the case was pending and no one knew what was going to happen. And that’s a big part of the problem. Everybody just backed off and said wait a minute,” says Katie Tipton, the interim director of Houston’s Department of Neighborhoods.
Some Texas cities have put a halt to all demolition work. But Mayor Annise Parker has established a demolition assessment panel to identify buildings the city can level without the threat of a lawsuit.
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