Neighbors Oppose Wheatland Road Project, Saying Industrial Land Use Wouldn’t Fly in North Dallas

When plans to revitalize Southern Dallas were announced about a year ago, it seemed the vision was a win-win for everyone. 

There would be a mixed-use development with housing, retail, and restaurants near the University of North Texas Dallas. 

What could go wrong?

A lot, according to some District 8 residents, who have called Stonelake Capital Partners’ plans for a 200,000-square-foot distribution center “environmental racism” and “economic and developmental apartheid.”

The 19-acre Stonelake tract on Wheatland Road is in one of Dallas’ many “planned developments” where very little actual planning has been done.

Planning and Urban Design Director Julia Ryan said there’s not much recourse for those who oppose a distribution center in an area already zoned for that use, but this is exactly why it’s important for residents to get involved in the ForwardDallas comprehensive land use plan update. 

“I don’t know what’s going to happen with that site,” Ryan told CandysDirt.com. “I would say that, with ForwardDallas, as we establish future land use, and we’re including residents in that conversation, what our process looks like is, ‘What is the vision, and is that consistent with the zoning application coming forward?’ That’s why this process is really important. When those zoning applications get pulled, we can go back and we have a case for what that vision should be.”

Not In My Backyard?

The problem with the Wheatland Road tract, according to the residents, is there is no zoning application.

Stonelake Capital Partners issued the following statement to CandysDirt.com late Monday:

“The 19-acre land site along Interstate 20 which Stonelake acquired in 2021 was widely marketed for sale and has been zoned for industrial warehouses for over 22 years. Stonelake acquired the property along Interstate 20 only because it was fully entitled for the development of an industrial warehouse. Stonelake is not seeking to rezone the property – Stonelake is requesting permits for our Class-A industrial development because our plans fully comply with the existing entitlements and the City of Dallas code including environmental. The site which Stonelake purchased is vacant land that has never previously been developed and will become a Class-A property and place of employment.”

Joe Dillard III addressed the Dallas City Council on May 10 on behalf of Friendship-West Baptist Church, which meets at 2020 West Wheatland Road. 

“We’re coming today to talk about what amounts to a hardship and an issue of highest and best use,” Dillard said. “The [developers] told us they were having some issues draining water. They proposed to drain their water from the distribution center through our site by way of an easement. Obviously, with our future plans to develop housing in that particular area, we didn’t see that as a benefit. We saw that as a hardship.”

The Stonelake Capital Partners tract is west of 60 acres owned by the church, Dillard explained.

The area is also home to David W. Carter High School, three elementary schools, five apartment complexes, daycare centers, churches, and single-family homes. 

It’s legal to put a distribution plant on that site, and it’s zoned appropriately, but “it’s not right,” Dillard added. 

No planning work has been done in that specific area, Ryan said, so there are no “checkboxes of implementation measures.” Wheatland Road is near a freeway, so that’s not typically where people want to build homes, she added.

While it may be too late for this particular site, community engagement for ForwardDallas workshops is ramping up, Ryan said. About 30 people attended a workshop in District 8 last week.

Retired Dallas police officer James Allen has lived in the area for almost three decades and addressed the City Council last week about potential environmental and aesthetic hazards. 

“This is a residential area, not an industrial area,” he said. “It’s a high risk for children who play in that area. We want development in our community, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. We want residential. Would you have a warehouse put in your backyard or directly in front of your school that’s going to risk the safety of your children?”

The Wheatland Road resident feedback was provided during the “public comments” portion of the May 10 council meeting, at which time council members are not permitted to engage in dialogue.

We reached out to District 8 Councilman Tennell Atkins and he did not respond to questions from CandysDirt.com by deadline. 

ForwardDallas

Debra Peek-Haynes, Friendship-West executive pastor David Malcolm McGruder, and Dallas City Plan Commission vice chair Lorie Blair also spoke against the planned distribution center during last week’s council meeting.

“We say no to another warehouse in south Dallas,” McGruder said. “We say no to the inability of developers to be creative while looking to produce a social and economic impact in the southern sector. We say no to environmental racism and the negative possible health effects of this development. We say no to implicit red-lining … and economic and developmental apartheid. We say no because we are Christians and we abide by that great civic golden rule: Do unto the south side as you would do to the north side.”

Blair, who was appointed by Atkins to serve on the City Plan Commission, told CandysDirt.com that she and her neighbors hope to stop the development before construction begins. About 2,000 people have signed a petition opposing it. Historically, hazardous zoning has been allowed in communities of color, Blair explained.

“It’s a safety issue,” she said. “They keep saying safety is the No. 1 priority. If safety is a priority, you’re literally allowing a hazardous occurrence where our children are. Why would you want to put them in harm’s way?”

In addition to environmental concerns, excessive 18-wheeler traffic around the site could impede motorists from getting to and from the hospital, Blair added.

Ryan emphasized that residents have an opportunity now to get ahead of land use matters before dirt is turned in their backyards. 

The planning director and Assistant Director Andrea Gilles gave an update on the ForwardDallas plan in a May 3 council briefing. City leaders have acknowledged a history of exclusionary zoning and expressed a desire to reduce or eliminate planned developments.

“For decades, the City of Dallas has developed and adopted plan after plan, and then they sit on a shelf,” Ryan said. “With all that planning, we still do not have a future land use plan or vision for growth. Andrea’s team is developing a no-nonsense, back-to-basics approach to land use and comprehensive planning. This plan is one of the most important efforts in the City of Dallas … ForwardDallas is the vital first step in rewriting the development code, improving the development and city processes through the elimination of [planned developments], and working toward eliminating the disparities in land use inequities.”