Rudy Karimi: ForwardDallas, How Are You Still Not a Household Name?
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By Rudy Karimi
CandysDirt.com Contributor
ForwardDallas may literally be the biggest thing to go through City Hall in decades, but shockingly few are talking about it.
I get it, it can be a challenge to activate our residents on civic matters. As a proud member of the Dallas Park and Recreation Board, I am passionate about parks and public spaces. Through the years, I have come to grips that these things simply do not excite every Dallasite the way they excite me, no matter how fluffy I make my social media page about it.
This is different though. Beyond its gentrification concerns, community displacement, environmental impact, lack of transparency and community input, lack of actual affordability and equitable issues, and challenges with actual urban development initiatives; ForwardDallas has the potential to change the makeup of every single one of our neighborhoods, and still not enough people are talking about it.
I’m not talking about pockets of the meta world like Facebook’s Reform Dallas page, astute readers of CandysDirt.com or gadflies like me that swarm City Hall on a regular basis. I am referring to our everyday cocktail parties, happy hours, summer cookouts, coffee bars, gyms, parks, text group chats, or even our casual conversations with our neighbors.
Talk Density to Me
While I understand why concerns around the city’s future land use wouldn’t come up on a first date and I certainly wouldn’t recommend whispering, “I love it when you talk density to me” into your spouse or partner’s ear, I am still shocked how few are aware of what’s at stake under ForwardDallas. Trust me, I know. I talk to a lot of people.
Unfortunately, even the most civically astute among us aren’t talking about ForwardDallas. I am talking about residents who know what council district they’re in, can name their council member, can name at least one of their council member’s appointed commissioners or board members, and vote in local elections. I’ve just described the top one percentile of civic-minded residents, and they still have little or no knowledge about ForwardDallas or its potential impact on our neighborhoods.
Dallas, we have a problem, but what can we do to fix this?
We’ve got to rely on each other more. The City of Dallas isn’t going to fill this gap for us. They aren’t staffed, nor are they willing or effective in getting the word out. Our council members, bless their hearts, are only as good as their reach, which is cumulatively around 9 percent of Dallas’s registered voters that exercised that right in the last race.
The ForwardDallas conversation is contentious. It is uncomfortable. It will turn friends into foes. Yes, it is complex and confusing. Yes, discussions around land use and zoning aren’t the sexiest conversations you’ll have that day, but they must be had. It is the only way we are going to get our communities informed and engaged.
The ask is simple: get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Make the post on social media. Start the conversation in your group texts. Talk about it at your kid’s next play date at the park or with your pickleball partners. Ask the questions. Start to answer some too! Feel free to leave it out of your romantic interests, but do dive into the discussions everywhere else.
You might realize you enjoy it. And if you’re like me, you might find yourself grabbing a friend and bringing them to City Hall or a public town hall to tell your elected or appointed leaders how you feel about it! Like I always tell our residents, your advocacy is your gift, and you’ve got to keep giving it!
Rudy Karimi is the Dallas Park and Recreation Board Member for Council District 14 and one of its proudest residents. He lives in East Dallas. Karimi says he is lucky beyond words and in awe of his incredible wife and two young children whose kindness and compassion light up every room in the house.
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What exactly is Forward Dallas?
Why does it matter?
How will it impact what neighborhood?
The other 80% would like to know what you are talking about exactly. Start at the beginning of factual information Thanks
Forward Dallas 2.0 is the next comprehensive plan for the city of Dallas. The comprehensive plan, by state law, should be the guiding document for zoning decisions in our city.
So think about this: Comprehensive plan > Zoning decisions > your neighborhood. Where do you live? Do you like your neighborhood?
Do you want your neighborhood to stay the same? Or to change a little, or to change a lot?
What is your neighborhood zoning now? Zoning states what types of land uses are allowed in a given area of the city. Chances are your neighborhood, if you live in a house, is Single Family zoning.
Very roughly, 40% of Dallas housing is provided by single family neighborhoods.
60% of Dallas housing is provided by apartments, duplexes, fourplexes, 8, 12, 16-plexes, 600 unit apartments, and apartment complexes of all sizes. also known as “multi-family” and there’s zoning for that too.
The big dispute on Forward Dallas 2.0 is that the city planner want to put “Multifamily up to 9 apartments” into “Single Family” zoning for the ENTIRE city as a Primary Use. Primary means “by right.”
So, if that comprehensive plan affects zoning decisions and the comprehensive plan says that Single Family neighborhoods all allow duplexes, fourplexes, 6, 8, 9-plexes, then guess what gets built in your neighborhood, or next door to you?
That’s not all though. FD2.0 says that Any Size apartment complex is allowed as a “Secondary Use” in Single Family neighborhoods. A secondary use isn’t by right, but it’s allowed.
If a zoning request is received, the comprehensive plan is reviewed to see what’s allowed, then that request may be approved.
What does that mean? Maybe 300 apartment units on your block.
Let’s be clear. There are many areas of the city where 400 or 600 or 100 or 12 more apartments are perfectly appropriate. There’s nothing wrong with apartments. Dallas has plenty of them. (In fact, they’re running about 11% vacant right now.)
But should fourplexes and 100 apartment units be inserted into Single Family neighborhoods?
If that zoning becomes valid, becomes enacted, what happens to your property values even if you don’t get apartments on your block. Land for apartments is more valuable, because more rents are collected than from a few single family houses. So property values go up and your taxes go up.
Are your taxes high enough yet? They could go higher with Forward Dallas 2.0. They could become turbo-charged, increasing rapidly.
Lastly, let’s get this out of the way. There are a lot of younger people pushing for FD2.0 because they believe it will help increase the supply of affordable housing. No, it won’t. City planners have flat out stated, and on video for the record, that FD2.0 has no intent or effect of increasing the supply of lower cost housing. None.
Do you want your neighborhood to stay as it is? Or more apartments and those mixed in with houses anywhere?
Most cities, including Fort Worth as one example, and the national average is 60% single family houses and 40% apartments. Already, Dallas is upside down with the reverse proportions. Does housing need to be reduced further in favor of apartments?
That’s one of the biggest questions that Forward Dallas 2.0 poses. Contact your city council member and let them know what you think.
Thank you.
https://candysdirt.com/?s=ForwardDallas
Run that search in our search bar: whole bunch of stories… here’s a good one:https://candysdirt.com/2024/06/18/dallas-plan-commission-says-no-to-multiplexes-as-a-primary-use-in-single-family-neighborhoods/
Do not make our lovely single family neighborhood into a congested area. Our environment is on the line.
There are ways we can increase density in our single-family neighborhoods without going to the extreme. Accessory dwelling units and duplexes on corner lots are two incremental examples. And, yes, those would improve affordability. Let’s not fearmonger, and let’s see how we can make Dallas more affordable for all Dallasites.
I don’t want duplexes or “accessory dwelling units” on every corner in my single family neighborhood. The truth is not fearmongering. Some rich ass developer from New York can buy the house next to me and put in a 15 unit complex, with no parking. Dallas has plenty of land for “density” without ruining our neighborhoods.
Jennifer, that simply won’t happen. Look at construction costs. There is no ROI for ADU’s for years and years. The homeowners that can afford build these do it for family members. Builders are more interested in apartment complexes as that is bigger ROI. The existing ADU’s and duplexes in our historic neighborhoods have been there for decades and no one is disturbed by them. Right now my son and his peers in the arts industries who are out of grad school cannot afford rent in Dallas. That’s right. So finding a garage apartment or back house is essentially their only option and there are very few available. I live in a historic duplex when I was his age because even back then and WITH a roommate I could not have afforded to rent a fancy apartment or single family home.