A jury trial set to begin this week over a neighborhood battle to stop a high-rise could set a precedent for the future of development in Houston, observers say.

Developers of 1717 Bissonnet, widely known as the Ashby high-rise, will face off against residents of the Rice University-area neighborhood who filed a lawsuit to stop the 21-story residential tower.

The high-profile battle has raged since 2007 and sparked debate about property rights in two mayoral administrations, influenced new city policy and provided a template for similar battles in other affluent neighborhoods.

The project was cleared to move forward last year, but a group of seven residents who live close to the site in May filed suit against the developer, Houston-based Buckhead Investment Partners.

Their petition said the project would generate traffic problems, "creating unreasonable delays and negatively impacting the safety of its residential streets." It also said the building is "vastly oversized" for its location and that construction could damage surrounding structures.

Property rights

The case in state District Judge Randy Wilson's court will begin Tuesday and is expected to last four weeks. A jury will hear from the parties involved and experts on both sides to decide whether the project would substantially interfere with the residents' property rights.

If they rule for the residents, jurors could decide to award damages. The court also has discretion to issue an injunction limiting the size and scope of the project or stopping it altogether.

Jean Frizzell, a Houston-based attorney for the neighborhood group, said his side will present traffic, foundation and architectural experts and a horticulturist to address the potential impact of the high-rise on the Southampton neighborhood. Residents will also testify, he said.

"There are high-rises all over Houston. What's different about this project is where it's located," Frizzell said. "We are not anti-development, per se. This is simply too high-density of a building and there is not enough infrastructure to support it."

The Buckhead developers said in a statement the project will promote "walkable, transit-oriented living in Houston's urban core." They say the claims against them are not supported by Texas law and would create a "chilling effect" on development of new projects in the city.

"If successful, the resulting lack of predictability and uncertainty in the law would invite a flood of similar litigation aimed at stopping projects subjectively deemed as inappropriate or undesirable of any individual or like-minded group of would-be plaintiffs," the statement said.

Since the Ashby battle began six years ago, several resident groups have waged similar battles in such neighborhoods as River Oaks, the Heights and the Museum District.

Without zoning, Houston's Planning Commission must approve all projects that meet city engineering guidelines. Other developers have begun to work with neighborhoods where they are planning to build ahead of time to avoid the backlash the Ashby developers faced.

Future of development

Josh Blackman, assistant professor at the South Texas College of Law, who specializes in property law, said this case will be monitored closely by developers and by neighborhood groups fighting projects.

"This is really breaking new ground," Blackman said. "This is the furthest that any residents have tried to challenge something in Houston history. It will set a precedent for what happens with future developments."

He said a ruling in favor of the neighbors may deter developers and give credence to neighborhood efforts.

"If this is successful, this is one more tool in the arsenal of the neighborhood," Blackman said. "If the developers win, it shows you aren't going to win in this town."

Joshua Sanders, executive director of Houstonians for Responsible Growth, a nonprofit that represents developers, said the case has the potential to stymie investment in Houston.

His group, which does not represent Buckhead, filed a supportive brief last week arguing in part that the residents cannot recover damages for injuries, or alleged property damage, that have not occurred and that arguments of "aesthetics" should be excluded from consideration.

"Our main concern is the regulatory system and business environment that will be impacted by this," Sanders said.

New city ordinance

He said the city has acted to alleviate future conflicts, passing a residential buffer ordinance that sets a distance between high-rises and single family homes and adjusting city policy regarding traffic-impact studies. He said the city now can force developers to mitigate traffic impact by, for example, adding new lanes or traffic lights.

"If you look at how much development we get in Houston," he said, "that's one small, small thing that is having such a broad impact on the system."