The Missing-Middle is Still Missing: Lochwood Shares Cautionary Tale For Neighborhoods Across Dallas
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By Thomas Buck
Special Contributor
In what retired Dallas Observer columnist Jim Schutze calls “today’s weakened media environment,” many have not noticed a storm brewing in far East Dallas.
At the intersection of Garland and Centerville Roads, a seven-month “Fight The Height” battle has pitted Lochwood and nearby neighborhoods against the City of Dallas. A developer — Ojala Holdings — applied to rezone the Shoreline City Church parcel. If the city agrees to change the zoning from residential (R-7.5A) to a Planned Development District (PDD) for multifamily (MF-2A) use, the developer will purchase the Shoreline property for an undisclosed amount.
The Backstory
The developer’s application for zoning change includes building 18 two-story townhomes and a 288-unit, four-story multifamily complex only 180 feet (roughly 60 steps) away from residential properties. The main building’s height in the back of the complex, closest to our neighborhood, would be 59 feet. If the zoning of the site changed from residential, the parcel would be the first-ever “planned development” to adjoin residential Lochwood, a neighborhood of mostly one-story homes and a two-story apartment complex.
The applicant filed in November 2021. In March 2022, approval was granted for tax-supported tax abatements from the nonprofit City of Dallas Public Facility Corporation (PFC).
Amended state legislation in 2015 made the 2020 formation of the City of Dallas Public Facility Corporation possible. The PFC awards City of Dallas tax abatements to successful developer applicants, like Ojala Holdings.
The Lochwood neighborhood learned of this rezoning in March 2022. Lochwood Neighborhood Association (LNA) held a community meeting in April.
To set the record straight: At that meeting, a handful of attendees made negative remarks that were not in line with the position and fundamental concerns of the LNA. There were very legitimate and valid questions raised by respectful attendees of the audience. But unfortunately those questions and the LNA messaging were drowned out in some media commentaries focusing on the negativity.
Neighborhood Concerns
The Lochwood Neighborhood agrees that Dallas needs to densify and provide more affordable housing while encouraging careful planning for an orderly transition to greater density. Here is the LNA’s official position on the application for zoning change Z212-190:
The LNA supports the construction of mixed-income, affordable housing, “gentle” densification, and multifamily development. New construction must respect the reasonable expectations of contiguous neighbors. See Missing Middle Housing.
In the proposed project, the LNA opposes the building height of 59 feet. Top-floor residents would see into the properties of Lochwood neighbors. Two-story townhomes, and existing and planted trees used to buffer would not permanently prevent this visual intrusion. Winter sight lines into existing homes would always appear from the fourth floor.
The planned development district does not comply with key items of the city-adopted Garland Road Vision Study, most notably because it is over 36 feet in height.
Garland Road and its tributaries were not designed to absorb the traffic density the 300 proposed units would add.
What is the PFC?
Authorized by state legislation in 2015, the City of Dallas Public Facility Corporation’s purpose is to “develop mixed-income multifamily developments … and be used as a tool for redevelopment to deconcentrate poverty and provide greater fair housing choices throughout the City of Dallas.”
The PFC Board is new and learning its way. It decided to award public tax abatements through the PFC partnership to the proposed project even though the application had not received approval from the City of Dallas.
The applicant claims that to make the project worth building, only a four-story development can provide a return on investment. Although the city council does not typically factor in the financing for a project when rendering a decision concerning land-use rezoning, this is not a typical case.
When our tax dollars are providing up to 75 years of tax abatements for the developer, taxpayers deserve a transparent process and opportunities to weigh in on it, as well as have more influence on how this complex is built.
The Future of Shoreline
Although approval of the planned development would not set a legal precedent, it would represent a “foot in the door” for four-story, multifamily mid-rise complexes across Dallas built directly adjacent to residential neighborhoods.
A more compatible, three- or two-story, missing-middle housing development, or built-to-rent single-family development would provide needed workforce housing, gently increase density, and respect long-existing neighborhoods. Either of these would be a win-win for developers, the workforce, and the neighbors in place.
Storms like the one at the Shoreline site are brewing all over Dallas. Back in April, the Dallas City Council decided “to crater residential zoning that had been in place for decades,” at the old Parkland Hospital on Maple Avenue, per Jim Schutze.
Churches with dwindling congregations and diminished resources or in this case, growing congregations and needing to relocate to a larger facility, are becoming easy targets for developers looking for land. Mockingbird Community Church “is now under contract with a closing contingent upon a successful rezone,” wrote Sam Gillespie in the Advocate on Oct. 13.
Missing-middle housing is still missing in Dallas, and these two cases are examples of why.
Take a Stand
The LNA’s official position on the application for zoning change Z212-190 has something for everyone — the applicant, the workforce, and neighbors in place.
This case, at the earliest, will be reviewed by the Dallas City Council on Wednesday, Nov. 9. Will you stand with the Lochwood Neighborhood Association? It supports the creation of genuine missing middle housing across the City of Dallas. It opposes Z212-190.
Please contact your Dallas City Council Member and District 9 Council Member Paula Blackmon to voice your opinion.
You can sign the LNA online petition opposing Z212-190.
To learn more, please visit the Lochwood web page opposing Z212-190.
Thomas Buck is a self-employed graphic artist/brand developer for Thomas Buck Studio. He serves as the communication chair for Lochwood Neighborhood Association. He is married to Kassandra Ramirez-Buck, Ph.D., an educator. They are a part of the workforce community.
