Lochwood Residents Fight Ojala Holdings’ Apartment Proposal For Shoreline Church on Garland Road

Members of the Lochwood Neighborhood Association met with developers and Dallas officials Tuesday night to express their opposition to rezoning that would make way for a multi-family housing complex on Garland Road. 

Developers with Ojala Holdings have presented a rezoning request to allow for the tear-down of Shoreline City Church and the construction of a four-story, 310-unit apartment complex near The Modern Tot Preschool and Eastlake Medical Building. The complex would overlook a portion of the 1,800 homes in the Lochwood neighborhood. 

Jerry Berggren, who has lived in the area for 10 years and said he does not speak for the entire neighborhood, said he is concerned the development could get a big tax break.

“This is not just a neighborhood issue; it’s a City of Dallas issue,” Berggren said. “These deals are going on all over the city, and it’s corrupt. The city gets a guarantee of over half of the units to be qualified as ‘affordable housing,’ and the residents of Dallas get to foot the tax bill for an even greater strain on infrastructure and services in the area. All Dallas residents will end up paying for this.”

Daniel Smith, vice-president of Ojala Holdings, acknowledged that they are proposing a public-private partnership in which 49 percent of the units would be market rate and 51 percent would be leased to working Attainable Housing residents. 

Ojala’s request is scheduled to go before the Dallas Plan Commission this summer and would then be considered by the Dallas City Council. 

At a meeting Tuesday night at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Shoreview Road, Lochwood Neighborhood Association president Scott Robson said residents are not opposed to development, but they want it to be a win-win that is compatible with the neighborhood. 

“We feel like David vs. Goliath, or the peewee league team vs. the New York Yankees,” Robson said. “The resources, money, power, experience, polish, marketing, and lawyers we are up against, is what it is … We are just hoping tonight to level the playing field with what we believe will be helpful information. We do believe with a level playing field, David can defeat Goliath.”

Robson read letters of opposition from representatives of the Eastwood Neighborhood Association and Eastlake Medical Building. 

“We want to be a good neighbor and we want whoever is on this property to be a good neighbor, but we need the developers to find a more compatible use,” Robson said. 

District 9 City Councilwoman Paula Blackmon and Plan Commissioner Michael Jung attended the meeting. No support has been pledged from either of them at this point in the process, officials said Tuesday. 

“I brought my pen and paper, and I will be listening,” Blackmon said before the meeting. 

Neighborhood Concerns

At Tuesday’s meeting, residents outlined the following concerns for the proposed development. 

Neighborhood impact – According to the Lochwood Neighborhood Association website, the Shoreline property has been zoned as family use for church operations for more than 65 years. (Ojala disputes this, saying the property is zoned R-7.5A). According to LNA, if the proposed rezoning is approved, the apartment complex would “not only be visually intrusive, creating an invasion of privacy, but will also increase the noise and light pollution, and [create] potential flood risks with already at-capacity storm drainage,” the site states. “This will result in the lowering of our neighbors’ property values.”

Local business impact – Overflow parking and visitors to the apartment complex could impact Modern Tot Preschool and Eastlake Medical Building. 

Does not adhere to the Garland Road Vision Study – Lochwood Neighborhood Association officials say the proposal doesn’t adhere to a city plan for the area adopted in 2010. The plan references a “clear desire to protect residential neighborhoods from commercial encroachment, which calls for mixed-use development for only three stories,” states the LNA website.

Ojala’s Presentation

Daniel Smith, vice-president of Dallas-based Ojala Holdings, said Tuesday the developers were approached by officials with the Shoreline City Church, who told them they wanted to sell the property and relocate. 

“We did not proactively knock on the church’s door,” Smith said, as he addressed each of the potential problems brought to light by the residents. “Flood risk, we understand that’s a concern. Essentially what we’ve agreed to do is take all of the runoff from the adjacent properties that are currently flooding onto this property and build an oversized detention pond to ensure that there’s no negative downstream flood impacts to any of the neighbors, not just in Lochwood, but anywhere downstream from that.”

The apartment complex proposal has been redesigned numerous times based on feedback from the neighbors, Smith said. 

The Garland Road Vision Task Force’s plan is not a strict land-use plan, Smith added. He reviewed traffic counts and emphasized that Ojala’s proposal is for a Class A mixed-income, mixed-use development, not Section 8 affordable housing. 

Developers also have designated 3,000 square feet of the property for creative office space for artists. 

“We think these are all interesting components that will continue to spur new growth and redevelopment on the corridor,” Smith said. 

Roscoe Property Management has been tapped to manage the development, a detail that was not well-received by Lochwood residents. Robson said the company has a low rating with the Better Business Bureau. 

Smith added, however, that security is taken very seriously, and an off-duty police officer will be responsible for monitoring the development. 

“We’re here to listen to the folks of the community,” Smith said. “We’re here to take your feedback into consideration as we work and navigate through this process. We hope that we can find some middle ground and ultimately become part of the community.”