More questions, this time about Clear Lake (Houston, Galveston: hair salon, daycare)

[texas7]

why will the insurance triple in Brook Forest?

[tstone]

Originally Posted by texas7

why will the insurance triple in Brook Forest?

Her current rate is $800/yr.

Insurance rates are about $1 per sq ft per year in this hurricane alley. After Ike it jumped about 15-20%.

[vegankris]

omg! That is really expensive!!! Is it like that everywhere in Houston?? What about Meyerland or Kingwood? That is crazy expensive for something like insurance. Especially considering how big all the houses are in Texas.

[tstone]

From what everyone has said in here, it's quite a bit cheaper inland.

HO Insurance (and electricity and college tuition) were privatized by our state govt promising lower rates and the exact opposite happened several years ago.

Also another surprise FYI are property taxes, which run close to 3% of your home's appraised value per year.

[vegankris]

Oh no....privatized electricity? That didn't work in CA. So I guess it must be very expensive to cool your house in the summer.

High property taxes don't bother me because we already pay about that where I live now. I don't like it, but I'm used to it.

[llmrkc07]

that gulf free way especially in that area has horrible traffic...but clear lake is a nice area...love the mall there

[tstone]

Originally Posted by llmrkc07

that gulf free way especially in that area has horrible traffic...but clear lake is a nice area...love the mall there

I agree, lots of SE Houston and tourism traffic comes down this way. But there are lists out there that show Westheimer (a city street) has more congestion than Interstate 45 in Clear Lake. Look it up.

But if you reside east of Hwy 3, once you learn how the city and neighborhood streets work, you'll never use 45 (or 3) for anything but a quick jumper. There is actually a fairly intelligent grid out here but it takes some exploring to learn it.

[texas7]

Yes - I think the horrible traffic to Clear Lake is somewhat of a myth (not that it is great by any means - but not nearly as bad as people make it out to be) - I still find it to be better than most commutes perhaps the only one that is better might be 59N from downtown to Kingwood - that is a pretty smooth commute.

[Sunderpig2]

Originally Posted by vegankris

Can someone please explain what the term "no zoning" means?

Others may have already commented, but basically "no zoning" means not setting the boundaries of entities (schools, businesses and type, etc) It's really a Houston-wide and often Texas-wide approach. In other words, not force entities into pre-defined areas, thus perhaps, stifling growth. Well, I think that's their argument. Some towns go against that approach though, so it's an individual choice.

Yes, it sometimes leads to problems, as some have mentioned (tattoo parlor near school, etc) But I haven't seen any of those problems in Clear Lake. In fact, recently, someone was going to start a "gentlemen's club" in the heart of CL, and it totally got shot down. It was near the library and a residential area (which pretty much describes the whole area). There are a lot of public outcry, and much media attention, and it quickly went away. There are too many professional and NASA technical residents here to allow those kinds of places to start up or last long.

[Sunderpig2]

Originally Posted by SouthernBoy205

Is Clear Lake even a city?

The area used to be an independent city (Clear Lake City) from 1961-1977. It was annexed to Houston in 1977, so it's actually a part of Houston.