A group of residents plans to present those at the River Oaks Property Owners town meeting on Jan. 25 with what it sees as perhaps the only way to keep the neighborhood's aesthetic quality in tact.

"We're going to ask our neighbors to seriously consider becoming a historic district like Avondale and Courtlandt Place," said Jane Dale Owen, who is spearheading the movement. "It's going to be a fight."

Owen pointed to the demolition of at least 25 houses in the River Oaks area in the last year, and a proposed revision to deed restrictions concerning the removal of trees as two of the main reasons she decided to look into possible protective measures.

Among the homes and trees affected recently were those once located at 3310 Del Monte, not far from her home. Owen said even in the wake of what she called "mass devastation," ROPO's most recent proposed change concerning tree removal, presented to property owners Dec. 15, weakens the Restrictions Restatement Committee first presented Oct. 28.

A review of the revised guidelines available at www.ropo.org shows the deletion of much of the original wording contained in section 15, which refers to tree removal:

• The sentence “the Board of Directors shall have the authority to approve or disapprove the removal of a tree on the basis of location, type, size and condition of tree, (no longer appears).
• The wording “shall be required to replace” is changed to “the Board of Directors may, in its discretion, require” in a section referring to the replacement of removed trees.
• The phrase “must be planted within 30 days of approval by the Board of Directors” is struck entirely.
• Language defining the size of replacement trees is also omitted.

J. David Heaney, chairman of the restrictions committee said in a letter to property owner Dec. 15. that following input from residents the language was “modified significantly to provide for review only if the lot is to be substantially cleared for new residents for substantial renovation. All restrictions on what owner may do on their own lots in other situations have been removed.”

Heaney’s letter also called the document the second draft, which would probably be modified at least one more time. “We are not yet ready to recommend a document for approval and will do so only after we feel a consensus has developed.”

Heaney could not be reached for further comment.

While it appears the final wording on the tree guidelines will not be ready until at least March, Owen said she hopes to start with a push toward qualifying at least part of River Oaks as a historical district.

City Council adopted the Houston Historical Preservation Ordinance in 1995 to protect not only qualifying districts, but also sites, structures, and landmarks.

In order to qualify as a historic district, an area must be of historical, cultural or aesthetic importance to the community. Generally, the designation must also be approved by 67% of the affected property owners, who must also own at least 51% of the property involved.

The only other avenue would be for the Houston Archeological and Historical Commission, created by the ordinance and filled my 11 mayoral appointees, to request the designation on its own.

This article appeared January 6, 2005 in the River Oaks Examiner