Nerd Out in The Weeds With ForwardDallas Comprehensive Land Use Plan

The Dallas City Council is taking the month of July off, but rest assured that staff and appointed boards and commissions are getting stuff done. The Comprehensive Land Use Plan Committee met last week to discuss the next steps for ForwardDallas, the document that will guide what and how future development occurs within the city limits. 

A draft plan review is tentatively scheduled for release in August, with a public comment period in the fall. It will then go to the City Plan Commission and City Council for adoption.

Comprehensive Land Use Plan

The appointed Comprehensive Land Use Committee got in the weeds during the July 11 meeting. To be more precise, the panel chaired by Brent Rubin got into the paths, districts, landmarks, nodes, and natural features. 

Rubin, an attorney who also serves as vice chair of the City Plan Commission,  told CandysDirt.com that the July 11 discussion “was probably our weedsiest meeting.” 

“The crux of the ForwardDallas exercise is looking at future land use projecting forward through the placetypes and other components of the ForwardDallas comprehensive plan. That will address how we accommodate and handle change in the city over the next several years.” 

Chief Planner Lawrence Agu said his team is trying to lay a foundation for citywide urban design guidelines that can be implemented post-ForwardDallas. 

“This is setting the groundwork in terms of common urban design concepts, topics, and places to understand where the holes are, where things currently exist, and how that ties into the land use,” he said. 

Simply put, the urban design standards help guide things like pedestrian connectivity in industrial areas versus mixed-use areas, Agu explained. And while most residents just want peace and comfort in their own neighborhoods, these things matter when planning for the future. The document is used as a guide when considering rezoning cases, city officials said. 

“This suite of urban design elements in combination with placetypes will help to define and emphasize the land use vision within different parts of the city that we’ve heard from the community,” Agu said. “For the most part, it’s going to be the placetype driving and urban design supporting.”

Consultant Rick Leisner of the Norris Design Group presented detailed information to the Comprehensive Land Use Plan Committee in last week’s meeting. 

“When we start talking about urban design, it’s basically a core belief that these are physical attributes of a community,” Leisner said. “When you talk about land use, it can be proposed or existing, but urban design elements are much more of a physical, tactile type of component within the community, things that citizens can use, touch, and walk. It helps define that sense of place. We use these items as it relates to placemaking.”

Agu said the objectives for the community and urban design within ForwardDallas include: 

• Developing a citywide urban design vision and guidelines. 
• Integrating and implementing urban design standards into the development process and future planning efforts. 
• Promoting and strengthening a sense of place and community identity for all Dallas neighborhoods. 

ForwardDallas

Rubin, a Dallas native, said comprehensive plans are required by law, and it’s imperative to periodically update the document. ForwardDallas was last updated in 2006.

“ForwardDallas in and of itself will set goals and have clear deliverables to hopefully lead to improvements in our zoning process,” Rubin said. “ForwardDallas is not going to implement any code changes, but there will be suggestions or ways we can improve moving forward. I think some of the things that we put in ForwardDallas, whether they’re these urban planning principles or other recommendations with respect to placetypes, will hopefully improve the process by having more clear standards.”

The committee is charged with producing an updated comprehensive plan and reviewing area plans such as the West Oak Cliff Area Plan and the upcoming South Dallas/Fair Park Area Plan. 

So what would Rubin personally like to see in terms of future land use in Dallas? 

“I certainly think there is a lot of opportunity around [Dallas Area Rapid Transit] stations for transit-oriented development,” he said. “Parking reform has long been a topic of conversation. The [Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee] is currently dealing with that, and I’m excited to see what they come up with because I don’t think our current parking requirements are based on any meaningful data.”

The comprehensive land use plan update also offers an opportunity to address the Dallas housing crisis, Rubin said. 

“It’s something that I care deeply about, so finding ways to incorporate additional housing into the city … is incredibly important,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing movement on accessory dwelling units now that the [short-term rental] piece is behind us. That was some people’s reason for hitting pause on ADUs. Now that the city has addressed it we can have some real conversations about making ADUs to build and lease out. I don’t think ADUs are a panacea for all of our housing challenges but I think they play a meaningful role.”