Deed Restrictions are the best tool that the property owners in the
Houston Heights have to curb over-development and the encroachment of
commercial businesses.  A signed deed restriction document protects the
investment you have made in your property by restricting undesirable
development.  These restrictions do not restrict you from painting your
house any color you like, putting up fences, adding garage apartments,
or remodeling your property in any way.  Once signed, a deed restriction
applies only to the specified property to which it applies and is an
effective tool ensuring future protection, despite changes in future
ownership.  More important, even if your entire block is not deed
restricted, the existence of deed restricted properties within a block
can often benefit the entire neighborhood by limiting developers'
choices in future construction on not only that specific lot, but also
adjacent properties.

The Houston Heights Association ("HHA") is not a homeowners association.
The HHA is prohibited from assessing maintenance fees and cannot put a
lien against your home.  Why?  As a volunteer-based 501(c)(3) charitable
organization, the HHA is dependent upon volunteers to donate time and
effort to maintain community assets and services that improve our
quality of life; these include Donovan Park, Marmion Park, the Fire
Station at 12th and Yale and the esplanade of Heights Boulevard.
Volunteers coordinate all the fundraisers for these properties and the
projects that the HHA supports.  HHA's four biggest fundraisers are the
Spring Home Tour, the Fun Run, the Heights Festival and the Holiday Home
Tour.  Monies raised by these fundraisers go right back into your
Houston Heights Neighborhood.

The Deed Restriction effort initially started when concerned residents
saw their property values plummet in the late 1970's. Volunteers crafted
a document that would enable our neighborhood to slow down and/or
prevent commercial development.  Large businesses were moving in and
depleting the historical housing stock by destroying the houses or
turning the houses into businesses that were not desirable for the
neighborhood.  With Houston's absence of zoning, deed restrictions in
the Houston Heights were their only method of preventing commercial
encroachment.  While the restrictions spurned businesses that invited
18-wheel truck traffic, unsightly dumpsters that were emptied at early
morning hours, and the use of paved front yards as parking lots, the
restrictions did allow small businesses and arts and crafts enthusiasts
to co-exist with the neighborhood. Currently there are approximately
1,034 Heights properties protected by deed restrictions and HHA
volunteers make themselves available to answer questions and attend deed
restriction signups and other Civic Association meetings to talk about
the positive results of deed restricting a neighborhood.

The HHA recently revised the restrictions to protect the neighborhood
from dense townhouse construction and encourage preservation of some of
the few remaining larger lots in the Houston Heights.  By early 2002 the
revised restrictions will be voted on by those properties that are
currently restricted.  Their passage is vitally important to encourage
development that suits the character of the Houston Heights.  Their need
is immediate and severe.  In the fall of 2001, Perry Homes purchased
large tracts of land on the West Side of Heights Boulevard.  Its plan is
to build townhouses rather than single-family homes.  Representatives
from the HHA have thus far unsuccessfully met with Perry Homes to
encourage them to build period-style single-wall constructed homes.  The
passage of amended deed restrictions and their ongoing wide spread
adoption is the most significant tool our neighborhood has to stop over
development and the mass construction of townhouses.

For more information please phone 713-861-4002, mailbox 1 or visit the
website at www.houstonheights.org.