Providence Christian School Expansion Will Have to Get Past Elm Thicket/Northpark Neighbors First
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Providence Christian School wants to expand its Lovers Lane campus, but it will have to get past the Elm Thicket/Northpark neighborhood, and they’re quick to remind developers that they trained for this.
Providence owns four duplex lots on Kaywood Drive and one residential lot on Caillet Street. No rezoning application has been filed, and Providence Headmaster Jeff Hendricks told CandysDirt.com about a month ago that his board of directors is still weighing options. In the spirit of compromise, the school could sell the duplex lots and scrap plans for an additional parking lot.
At a Jan. 29 town hall meeting, it was clear that Elm Thicket/Northpark residents — who, in 2022, won a battle to “downzone” their neighborhood in an effort to fight displacement and gentrification — don’t want a large, non-taxpaying business encroaching on their subdivision.
“Save Elm Thicket has not changed its plan to oppose any expansion into our neighborhood,” a spokesperson said in an email to the “Save Elm Thicket/Northpark” listserv. “The school can sell the four Kaywood duplex lots and the one residential lot on Caillet. They have done it before so they can do it again.”
Ann Piper, director of communications and marketing for Providence Christian School, told CandysDirt.com last week that school officials are still “mulling over ideas” and do not have an update. The school is on spring break this week.
Providence Christian School Plans For Expansion
Providence Christian School has been educating children at 5002 West Lovers Lane for decades. The private school serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and has an almost-perfect success rate of alumni who graduate high school and attend college.
But the campus enrollment numbers are growing and there are needs for improved athletic fields, more buildings, a play garden, and parking.
That’s a problem, say the residents of Elm Thicket/Northpark, who are no strangers to pushing back against new development in their well-established neighborhood.
The school creates traffic hazards and noise, and the vacant lots owned by Providence have become hot spots for drug deals and unsavory activities, neighbors told Hendricks at the January community meeting.
“The desire to encroach into our neighborhood is incredibly tone deaf since the entire neighborhood endured a grueling zoning case in 2022 to limit the size and style of homes that could be built in ETNP,” the neighborhood’s February newsletter states. “At a time when Dallas has a shortage of affordable housing, it is ludicrous to tear down homes in our neighborhood for surface parking lots.”
The No. 1 Concern of Neighbors is Housing Loss
A CandysDirt.com reporter requested a copy of Hendricks’ presentation from the January meeting, but it was not immediately provided. It may already be a moot point since school officials appear willing to compromise before taking a rezoning request before the City Plan Commission.
School administrators are questioned frequently about whether they’ll add a high school. Hendricks said he doesn’t know, but it won’t be on Lovers Lane because there’s not enough space.
The headmaster said during the January meeting that the school is willing to offer its campus for community events or neighborhood gatherings.
“We want to do better about connecting and serving the community,” he said. “You tell us what would be most beneficial.”
He also acknowledged the need to balance the desires of the neighbors and the school. He said publicly that selling the residential lots is a possibility.
“I’m here as the head of school but I don’t make decisions about property on my own,” Hendricks said. “I have a board. We work together. That’s a possibility. There may be other options, other uses, we can talk about. I don’t know.”
Elm Thicket/Northpark resident Gus Perez said the biggest concern for the neighborhood is maintaining affordable housing.
“That’s a concern of the City of Dallas as well, that there’s not enough affordable housing,” he said. “There’s a long history in this neighborhood going back to the 1950s where eminent domain came in, knocked down houses, and displaced people. We’re very sensitive to the fact that losing houses is not a good thing for this neighborhood. We want to make sure you hear that. That’s our No. 1 [concern], losing housing for a business expansion.”
City of Dallas Zoning Application
One resident suggested that language could be written into an amended planned development application that no further expansion would be requested once the Providence campus reaches its zoned capacity of 600 students.
“In 2007, the school board of trustees said they would not need any further expansion. They said they had everything they needed,” the ETNP newsletter states. “What is at stake is the sovereignty of our historic neighborhood. If we permit our boundaries to be changed by this business then it will be open season on Elm Thicket/Northpark.”
Providence could easily build a playground, additional school building, and parking “if they put them where their football field currently exists,” neighbors said.
Another neighborhood meeting has not been scheduled, but residents say they are keeping a close eye on rezoning documents filed with the city.
