Neighbors to Meet Monday on South Winnetka Heights Conservation District Designation

A public meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5, to discuss plans for the proposed South Winnetka Heights Conservation District. 

A conservation district is defined by the City of Dallas as a zoning tool to designate areas within a neighborhood with a distinct physical character. 

“While similar to historic districts in that they are both forms of preservation, historic districts try to preserve historic integrity and materials from a particular time — often referred to as a period of significance — whereas CDs are intended to provide a means of conserving an area’s distinctive character by protecting or enhancing its physical attributes. They are often seen as complementary branches of preservation,” the site states.

South Winnetka Heights was platted in the first decade of the 1900s as Winnetka Heights. It is bordered on the west by South Edgefield Ave., the south by Brooklyn Ave., the north by 12th St., and the east by South Polk St. It is similar in character to the community’s namesake to the immediate north, which already has the conservation district designation. 

Chief Planner Trevor Brown is heading up the project on the city’s end. 

“As homogenous architecture becomes the norm across the country it is important to protect and enhance the neighborhoods that provide an identity unique to Dallas,” Brown told CandysDirt.com. “Transformation is important, and inevitable, in a growing metropolitan city and conservation districts are a way of managing change in a way that ensures harmonious, orderly, and efficient growth in the neighborhoods that shape and inform the Dallas we know today.”

Making The South Winnetka Heights Conservation District

South Winnetka Heights is one of two neighborhoods with a conservation district “in process.” While Lakewood’s efforts have garnered more media attention in recent months, South Winnetka Heights actually began its process first, holding its first pre-application meeting with city staff in November 2020. 

To form a conservation district, a neighborhood committee circulates petitions and must produce signatures of property owners within the proposed district that represent at least 58 percent of the land, excluding streets and alleys. Seventy-one petitions were submitted and verified for the South Winnetka Heights Conservation District, according to city documents. 

Public meetings on the South Winnetka Heights proposal began in September. Monday’s meeting will be the fifth time the group has gathered. At least 10 meetings are needed to discuss everything from building height to roofing materials to architectural styles. 

Following the series of meetings, staff drafts an ordinance and the proposal goes before the City Plan Commission and Dallas City Council for approval. 

“Current City of Dallas code will allow development that is incompatible with the existing character of the neighborhood,” Brown said in a November conservation district presentation to South Winnetka Heights residents. “The neighborhood has expressed a desire to preserve its character. Some degree of additional standards will be necessary to maintain the characteristics of the neighborhood and meet the desires of the residents. We are meeting to develop specific details for the development standards and architectural standards your neighborhood chose for consideration.”

Why Pursue a Conservation District? 

The South Winnetka Heights neighborhood website shows that most of the “lovely craftsman-style homes” in the area were built between 1925 and 1930. 

“Though small in area, only four blocks long and one block wide, big changes are underway,” the site states. “The neighborhood is undergoing a significant resurgence. While dubbed South Winnetka Heights by local residents, the name is subject to change aligned with plans to seek designation as a conservation district. Look for more information on the imminent community renaissance in South Winnetka Heights.”

We learned from the Lakewood residents, who began the process of expanding an existing conservation district, that they didn’t want new buyers tearing down architecturally-significant homes and rebuilding structures that were incompatible with the neighborhood. 

Similarly, South Winnetka Heights residents have said they don’t want “McMansions” and do want to preserve the architectural characteristics of the neighborhood. 

The Dec. 5 meeting starts at 6 p.m. at Arts Mission Oak Cliff, 410 South Windomere Ave.