design elements - San Jacinto Texas Historic District

Implementing the Corridor Standards
Making the vision of a distinct Historic District a reality requires a strategic
and conscientious action plan for short and long term priorities that relies
on the collaborative involvement of public and private sector entities.
The San Jacinto Texas Historic District Corridor Standards should be
presented to the Mayor, Councils, and governing boards of the sixteen
District communities, the Houston Ship Channel and its industries,
TxDOT, the Port of Houston, Armand Bayou, the Houston Galveston Area
Council, Councils of Governments, and Harris County, with a request for
recognition, endorsement, and adoption of the standards. They should
also be posted to community websites for wide public distribution. Each
community should hold a public forum to present the standards to the
community and to discuss the need for public and private eff orts for
implementation when improvements are being considered within the
corridors, gateways, and Project Stars sites. For example, Harris County
Commissioner Sylvia Garcia holds several meetings with the communities
located within Precinct Two where this could be accomplished.
Each of the eff orts of recognition should be coordinated with local, state,
and national press coverage that is carefully orchestrated with a public
involvement plan. Press packages will allow information to be shared in
an effi cient and consistent way and tell the story of how communities and
their constituents can be part of this history-making eff ort.
A San Jacinto Texas Historic District Summit should be held in the fall with
the goal of sharing information and preparing priorities and projects for
the spring budget process. The Economic Alliance Houston Port Region
could assist in facilitating the meeting.
14 │ INTRODUCTION
Communities should consider using the extensive Harris County
Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping system to help prepare
and map a three to fi ve year San Jacinto Texas Historic District Capital
Improvement Plan (CIP) project list. This list can be posted annually so
that private sector partners are aware of implementation activities.
Implementation will require the recognition of the standards and elements
and inclusion of standards in Capital Improvement Plans and annual
budgets. Clearly, funding will be critical to realizing the collective District
vision. Individual jurisdictions have an assortment of tools available to
incentivize private investment and improvements to the public realm.
The deployment of strategic tax abatement, tax increment fi nancing,
economic development agreements, and other public-private partnership
instruments can be very eff ective as catalysts for voluntary participation.
As local and regional agencies review funding requests from communities
in the region, they can also make sure that the Corridor Standards are
recognized as a part of the review. For example, the Houston Galveston
Area Council (H-GAC) is now providing funding for Livable Centers,
walkability, and other related programs, which are recommended in the
Corridor Standards. Since the H-GAC funding cycle is three to six years,
planning in advance could prepare the San Jacinto Texas Historic District
for federal or state funding using city funds as local match.
See Appendix D Texas Toolbox for additional fi scal and regulatory tools
for implementation.