COLTIVARE NEEDS
YOUR HELP!
The Plea:

As many of you know, we are in the process of opening Coltivare, our interpretation of an Italian-inspired, American, neighborhood restaurant, at the corner of White Oak and Arlington Streets.

Undoubtedly, one of the most unique aspects to Coltivare, is the potential to have a 3,000 square foot, fully-functioning vegetable garden, directly to the East of our building.  

From day one, we envisioned the green space as having the potential to become that, but knew we faced a few hurdles with the City of Houston, fulfilling our parking code requirement.  We didn't let ourselves get our hopes up just yet.

Many of you have probably noticed a lot of "not much" going on with the construction process.  This is because we've been going through the variance process with the City of Houston Planning Department.  

The variance that we are seeking is one allowing us to utilize parking lots that we have leased adjacent to Coltivare, as spaces to count towards our code requirement.  

Across Arlington Street on the North side of White Oak, sits a warehouse space that has been in existence since 1938, best we can tell.  Dating back to the 50's, via Google satellite images, those same spaces have been used for parking.  They are used for parking today as they will continue to be used for parking tomorrow.  Over the last 80 years, as White Oak's right-of-way has widened, it has slowly encroached on the depth of these spaces.  They sit between 15'-16' deep now.  The City likes 19'.  However, there is another 13' from the back of the spaces to the actual street, leaving plenty of room to maneuver safely.  These spaces are already legally being used by the warehouse during they day; we simply want to use them at night.

These spaces are what we are trying to get the Planning Commission to approve regarding our variance.  Spaces that are already in existence and being used for parking.

We have historically had a very good relationship with the Planning Commission and do not envy their jobs.  Given everything that is thrown at them, they do a phenomenal job keeping the City moving in the right direction.  The idea of turning existing green-space into another parking lot does seem counter intuitive to Mayor Parker's green initiatives though.

Regarding our variance, they have afforded the Heights community an opportunity to voice your support in their approving our parking plan.  

In a perfect world, we would love for you to inundate their emails with a quick note saying you support our variance to utilize existing parking, rather than turn one of the few green-spaces the community has, into another ugly parking lot.

Contact Planner Dipti Mathur Dipti.Mathur@houstontx.gov

Dipti has been graciously reading through all of these emails, but she needs to hear from you.

Also wouldn't hurt to cc:

pd.planning@houstontx.gov

Marlene.Gafrick@houstontx.gov

We also would like to invite you to the Planning Commission hearing, March 28th, at 2:30pm, to verbally support the variance.  We will send a follow up email as that date approaches, with more details.

Thank you all in advance for your support.  We at Coltivare look very forward to serving you for years to come, and cannot imagine doing this in another neighborhood in Houston.  The Heights is our home too.

Best Regards,

Morgan Weber & Ryan Pera
Owners, Revival Market & Coltivare Houston
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