Communications

Historic District Design Guidelines Visual Preferences Survey by Lori Bigler

Click on the image to go to the city web site and begin the survey.

What are the keys to designing a compatible house or addition in a historic district?

At previous community workshops, participants evaluated a series of alternative building models for new houses and additions. Some models were rated as being either clearly appropriate or clearly inappropriate. For other models, opinions were mixed, or there wasn’t enough feedback to draw clear conclusions, and so this survey focuses on those models for which we did not receive clear direction.

We have also updated some illustrations to more closely reflect the character of individual historic districts. Your answers will help us recommend building design tools to be included in the Woodland Heights Historic District design guidelines.
The survey is divided into three parts:

Part 1: Overall Issues In the District
This section asks the extent to which you agree or disagree with issues that were mentioned in previous workshops.

Part 2: Building Design Tools
This section asks you to comment on the usefulness of design techniques that can affect compatibility, in terms of mass, scale, and relationship of a building to its neighbors. A background paper, titled Houston Historic Districts Potential Design Tools, provides further information about the design tools in Part 2.

Part 3: Building Scenarios
This section presents seven house designs -- three that show different approaches for constructing an addition to a historic single-family home, and four that illustrate new single-family homes in the historic district. Each scenario incorporates a combination of the design techniques described in Part 2 and will help us determine how effective these tools may be in achieving compatible designs.

All surveys must be completed online or postmarked no later than Friday, January 27, 2017.

The New Faces Of The WHCA Board by Lori Bigler

The past month has seen some changes in the faces on the WHCA board. The current board is comprised of the following officers:

  • William Getschow, President
  • Tyson Greer, President-Elect
  • Carla Reed, VP-Beautification
  • Susan Pennebaker-VP-Secretary
  • Michael Graves, VP-Communications
  • Brad Snead, VP-Security
  • Melissa McKee-VP, Treasurer
  • Giji John-VP, Deed Restrictions
  • Roger Moxley, VP-Membership
  • Matt Johnson-VP-Infrastructure

These officers will serve through March 2017. In March the WHCA will be holding elections to determine the officers for the coming year, which runs through to March 2018.

Block Captain Program by Guest User

Neighbor Missy Wright is leading an effort to reinstate the block captain program. This team of volunteers walks their block distributing WHCA information to neighbor's front porches. It's a great way to meet neighbors and help the WHCA eliminate some postage costs. While we’ve received a great response so far, we could use a few more volunteers. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact the block captain coordinator, Missy Wright.