LBJ Corridor Study, Take II: Are City Leaders Forcing Upzoning on Neighborhoods?

Area-wide meeting at 4:30 p.m. Sunday

King of Glory Lutheran Church, 6411 Lyndon B Johnson Fwy.

We read how, Monday night, things were just getting underway at the new, improved meeting for the LBJ Corridor Study convened by Dallas City Councilwoman Jaynie Schultz. The meeting asked residents — homeowners — for input on their vision for the area from Coit to Preston roads, encircling LBJ, should rezoning requests come knocking.

Then, the tornado sirens sent everyone home, this in a neighborhood all too familiar with the damage such storms can wreak.

The meeting re-convened Tuesday evening, at the larger venue of King of Glory Lutheran Church on the north side of LBJ. (Some attendees joked that the organizers were so grateful for Monday’s weather, the meeting got off to a shouting start.) Although some mused that this would result in even fewer people — after all, this was the third try for the meeting — in fact, I counted at least 68 in attendance.

The comments started out heated, again, with many homeowners still dubious as to why the assembly was taking place. The contention was nothing, I was told, compared to the previous evening. Evelyn Mayo from RAYO patiently explained, again, the purpose of the meeting: Get neighborhood input to a future development vision. Someone asked where Councilwoman Schultz was (Nova Scotia, on vacation) and where her new appointee to the City Plan Commission was — MIA.

Many wanted to know who was paying for this corridor study. We will have that info in a future update.

Then came the round-robin, asking each circular table to answer questions — what they LIKED about the area, what they DISLIKED, and their dreams for the area.

But from the start, and even from a show of hands, the message was clear as to the fate of the apartments that Miami-based Related Group (RD Investment Properties) hoped to erect: no way, Jose.

The exercise of “what I would like to see in the corridor” — given with no budget options — led to some interesting musings. Those musings included putting in a police substation, creating Clyde Warren Park III, a dog and cat park, more parks, and — my own brainstorm — turn an existing office building into a museum encompassing the creeks and green space.

Garrette Sherman was at the meeting for the third time, handing out information packets to homeowners loaded with information on how to contact the developers to say no to apartments.

“What we need, right now, is for our D11 Councilwoman, Jaynie Schultz, to state clearly — in a letter, in an email — that she is opposed to apartments, period. That she will not vote to support any apartments at LBJ and Hillcrest now or in the future. It’s amazing this case is still pending; it was denied by a unanimous staff vote in December.”

During the meeting, Evelyn explained, again, that the city would be re-visiting the dated 2006 Forward Dallas Plan which is why Councilmember Schultz convened the Corridor Study. 

Sherman reminded me that Forward Dallas not zoning but land use suggestions.

“There is no statute power behind Forward Dallas,” says Sherman, a former apartment developer. “Zoning law is what counts. Everything has to go case by case — which is why we need a pledge from our City Councilwoman on the zoning.”

Andrew Cox, a licensed Texas Realtor with a British accent who also lives near Churchill Park, said that in his professional opinion, replacing the low-slung, two-story offices with five-story apartments could affect the value of his and other homes nearby. 

“It could take 30 percent off the value of my home,” he said. “If this happens, the developer can write me a check for the market value of my home today plus 50 percent, and I’m gone.”

City leaders should take note: Substantial population loss in some of the nation’s largest and most vibrant cities was the primary reason 2021 was the slowest year of population growth in U.S. history, according to new Census data, as reported in the New York Times this week. That includes Dallas County.

The Census Bureau also reported that Dallas County lost 25,000 people between 2020 and 2021. Our suburbs are flourishing: Total growth for the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area was 97,290 people, almost 100,000. Dallas County, by contrast, lost population and has basically stopped growing.

City leaders might want to think twice before they run off high-tax paying property owners before they force upzoning on neighborhoods.