HOUSTON — Residents in the Rice Village area are protesting a planned 20-story high-rise that could break ground any day.
One of the main concerns among people living in the area is a lack of space along the two-way road that could create even more traffic issues.
“It’s just going to be miserable," one person said.
The City of Houston has already granted permits for The Langley, a 20-story luxury apartment project at 1717 Bissonnet St., formerly known as the Ashby High Rise.
"It's going to be a multi-year process," Houston City Council Member Abbie Kamin, of District C, said.
Penelope Loughhead said the proposed high rise would be just 5 feet from the home she's lived in for the past 26 years.
"How it might affect our property and that’s a huge one, is the effect on traffic and EMS being able to get to us," Loughhead said, describing concerns she has about the project. “It’s very scary to think about that, to say nothing about the lack of privacy that we’ll have.”
Under new City Council ordinances passed in January, new high rises would be required to be at least 30 feet away from homes in residential areas. However, the plans for this high rise won't be impacted by that ordinance under a settlement between the city and Streetlights Residential.
“All of the new neighborhood protections, that we as city council and Mayor Turner had passed over the years, by and large, don’t apply," Kamin said.
The little-to-no zoning requirements in Houston are also an issue for the people living there. Kamin said the new high rise will bring more problems than necessary for South Hampton neighbors.
“Just, how are you going to build it is a problem, how are we going to protect the trees, how are we going to protect the infrastructure," she said.
Residents are considering filing more lawsuits in an effort to halt the project.
KHOU 11's Gerald Harris reached out to the project's developers but did not hear back.