At its annual conference in El Paso starting Wednesday, Oct. 19, the Texas chapter of the American Planning Association will bestow an award on University of Houston Hines College of Architecture and Design professor Bruce Race and his students for their creation of a master development plan for the Ruffino Hills properties in the Brays Oaks Management District.
The project had already received the American Planning Association Houston Section’s Gold Resilience Award, which honors outstanding contributions to planning in the region. The award for resilience recognizes projects that improve a community’s ability to bounce back from natural and human-made disasters.
Next: Consideration of the project for the organization’s national award.
The Ruffino Hills site served many years ago as a household waste landfill facility for the cities of West University Place and Bellaire. Part was used later as a golf course. Now the city of Houston is eyeing at least a portion of the dormant land as a floodwater detention project to prevent stormwater from damaging homes and businesses in the Keegans Bayou area.\Race’s “Ruffino Hills Landfill: Resilient Redevelopment and Detention Strategy” plan calls for an integrated economic and environmental resilience project that includes stormwater detention, commercial development and recreational elements.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner declared Ruffino Redevelopment Community Day on Aug. 23, 2022 in a proclamation presentation to Race and project supporters at City Hall. Learn about Ruffino Hills, the proposed development plan and Houston One Voice, a community group that supports it, here.
