Galveston to consider regulations to improve appearance of Broadway

GALVESTON

In its 19th-century heyday, Broadway was lined with palatial houses testifying to fortunes made in a booming seaport town.

Some of those stately houses and mansions remain and some business owners have renovated old buildings along the boulevard.

But travelers on the six-lane thoroughfare, which begins where Interstate 45 ends at 59th Street and continues 3.8 miles to Seawall Boulevard, also are greeted by a motley hodgepodge of empty buildings, pawn shops, washaterias, auto-repair shops, fast-food joints, tattoo parlors and many ramshackle houses.

And even after years of new, tougher ordinances and overlays requiring landscaping and more aesthetically appealing building design for new construction, some islanders still are dissatisfied with the appearance of Galveston’s gateway.

Existing properties were grandfathered and change has been slow.

Now, city leaders are gearing up for another go, in hopes of finally achieving a better-looking Broadway.

PLANNING TO PLAN

At the request of city council, the planning commission at its Dec. 5 meeting will begin reviewing 2015 land development regulations that spell out permitted uses and design standards for building on lots along Broadway.

Permitted-use rules address questions such as whether there are too many auto-related businesses on Broadway, for example. Design rules govern such things as how buildings are orientated on lots and where entrances and parking spaces are situated.

Planning commissioners might need several months of meetings before making any recommendations to the city council.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Although the city has since about 2015 imposed regulations on new construction, the rules haven’t achieved what islanders had hoped for, Councilman John Paul Listowski, an ex-officio member of the planning commission, said.

Listowski and other islanders are unhappy with the design of some fast-food restaurants built under 2015 land regulations that required such things as buildings to be oriented toward Broadway and have primary entrances along Broadway.

Also, 70 percent of commercial buildings had to build to the Broadway property line, which pushed parking lots to the back and front walls to the sidewalk.

Those rules were meant to promote walkability on Broadway, Listowski said.

“In my mind, no one is going to walk Broadway for the fun of it,” he said.

And the rules didn’t improve Broadway’s appearance, Listowski said.

SUCCESSFUL FAILURE?

An example of the rules not abetting improvement is Jack in the Box, 5028 Broadway, he argued.

Developers in 2015 sought variances such as putting parking in front of the restaurant and making a curb cut on Broadway.

Jack in the Box later dropped its request and met city requirements to build parking behind the building, which meant putting a drive-through lane just off Broadway, Listowski said.

The drive-through looks worse than a parking lot would have, Listowski said.

Taco Bell, 5701 Broadway, built in 2009 before the new rules, looks better because it’s well landscaped, set back from the boulevard and parking is in front of the building, he said.

Islanders also have complained about Domino’s Pizza, 2108 Broadway, which was built very near Broadway to meet the city’s parking requirements.

NOW OR NEVER

There’s urgency to act if the city wants much say about the appearance of Broadway, Listowski said.

“We have the largest undeveloped stretch of land beginning at 59th to 53rd where the justice center is,” Listowski said.

County commissioners on Monday approved the sale of about 10 public acres along Broadway to a shopping center developer for $4.5 million.

Sugar Land-based Shopping Center Interests had been looking at the site, 5400 Broadway in front of the Criminal Justice Center, for a couple of years, company founder Clark East said Monday.

The firm has a verbal agreement with a national coffee chain for a store on the property and a major car-wash chain had expressed interest, East said.

Some island residents also are concerned about plans for a car-wash at prominent parcel at 25th and Broadway.