Fifth Ward cancer cluster relocation is uncertain amid confusion on area developments
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- During Wednesday's meeting, Houston City Council members were unable to devise a plan for the funds allocated to move residents from a cancer cluster in the Fifth Ward amid development confusion.
Last fall, 13 Investigates first broke the news of development in a cancer cluster in the Fifth Ward. For months ABC13 has reported on how the city is issuing permits for developers in the area, despite allocating 5 million taxpayer dollars to move people out of the neighborhood.
READ RELATED: Houston spending millions to move people out of cancer clusters while still approving development
Yet this week, as Houston City Council tried to nail down a plan for that money, they seemingly remained unsure on whether development was still happening in the area.
On Wednesday, the council was poised to vote on a $2 million agreement with the Houston Land Bank. If they had voted in favor of the agenda item, they would have given 40% of the funds marked for relocation to the land bank -- a municipal entity which acquires vacant, abandoned, or deteriorating (VAD) properties for community development.
According to the agenda item, the land bank would serve as the master builder for residents who choose to relocate. It also stated they may purchase a home on the land bank's lots.
At-Large Position 4 Council Member Leticia Plummer called to delay the vote. She said residents had been promised a meeting with the land bank before a contract came to vote.
Plummer, the mayor, and other council members critical of the proposal stressed that important details, like how much money relocated residents would receive for a new home, and how much they would pay in taxes, had not been worked out.
Council Member Tarsha Jackson who represents the impacted neighborhood admitted, "The program is currently being built out. We are flying the plane. Building it while we fly it."
Jackson told her colleagues there is "fear because there's development happening in the area."
Inside the cancer cluster, 110 lots, 42 of them occupied, sit on top of a creosote plume. Creosote is a cancer-causing substance that was used to treat rail ties at a Southern Pacific, now Union Pacific Railroad, wood treatment facility that used to operate out of the neighborhood. The city has identified the 42 households atop of the plume as "priority one" of three priority zones identified for relocation. Thursday, the city reported that just nine of those 42 households had expressed interest in relocating.
Jackson asked if there was a way to stop issuing permits to developers in the neighborhood. Her request was met with confusion.
"We're getting conflicting messages so is there any building taking place?" Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex-Tatum asked City Attorney Arturo Michel.
Michel responded, "The last time I checked, which was in December sometime, there was nothing in what was the identifiable cluster area."
ABC13 pulled permits issued as recently as December to developers building new rentals in the neighborhood. A visit to the site Thursday proved their construction projects were still underway.
Michel had not responded to a request for comment in November when ABC13 first reported that permits were being issued and new rentals were built.
READ RELATED: Houston spending millions to move people out of cancer clusters while still approving development
After this story aired at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Michel contacted ABC13 and said a change had been made to the permitting process on Wednesday and that he was working to learn more.
ABC13 contacted Mayor John Whitmire's office for additional information. They said an "administrative period" had been enacted for permits in the cancer cluster. It simply extends the time it takes for a developer to obtain a permit. The idea is that the city can use that time to educate developers on the dangers of building in a cancer cluster.
In Houston, building plans can be reviewed and a residential permit can be issued within 10 business days. At this time ABC13 is still working to determine how long it will take for a developer to obtain a permit with the administrative period in effect. The city still does not have the power to deny a permit because a project is located within the cancer cluster.
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