September 25 Could Be the Day of Reckoning for ForwardDallas Land Use Plan
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Is the phrase “Day of Reckoning” too much for a ForwardDallas headline, an astute CandysDirt.com editor asked herself. The Collins Dictionary defines the expression as “a day or time in the future when people will be forced to deal with an unpleasant situation which they have avoided until now.”
Yep, that tracks.
That day of reckoning could be Sept. 25, when the Dallas City Council has tentatively scheduled a public hearing on the controversial ForwardDallas 2.0 plan — a hearing that will pack City Hall with proponents and opponents alike.
After hundreds of public meetings and dozens of ForwardDallas revisions over the past three years, the latest version of the comprehensive land use plan was recently tweaked to help ensure multifamily housing would not be built in the middle of single-family neighborhoods. While the land use document does not dictate or change zoning, critics were worried that ambiguous language could make rezoning easier.
More amendments were introduced during a Tuesday meeting of the Council’s Economic Development Committee. Council members Omar Narvaez, Carolyn King Arnold, Adam Bazaldua, Paul Ridley, Kathy Stewart, and Chad West serve on the committee chaired by Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins.
Nine speakers addressed the committee on Tuesday, including City Plan Commissioner Lorie Blair and Builders of Hope Chief Community Development and Policy Officer Stephanie Champion. Eight of the nine speakers supported the plan as a tool to address housing choice, affordability, racial equity, and anti-displacement.
“We need a land use plan that creates access to new and diverse housing options across the city, and we need tools for neighborhood preservation and affordability,” Champion said. “ForwardDallas 2.0 offers both. Is it perfect? No, and I still have suggestions for how to make it better, but it is a heck of a lot better than what we have currently.”
ForwardDallas was drafted in 2006 and has not been updated since then.
Potential Adjustments
According to an updated briefing released ahead of Tuesday’s Economic Development Committee meeting, potential adjustments to the ForwardDallas 2.0 plan approved in late July by the City Plan Commission include the following: (with the document’s own bold emphasis)
1. Move triplexes to secondary uses in the Community Residential and Small Town Residential placetypes
- Duplexes and townhouses remain examples of Single-Family Attached land uses, identified as primary uses in Community Residential.
- These are homeownership products that can help increase homeownership opportunities in our neighborhoods, along with existing and any additional single-family detached homes
- Additional proposal: add an action step to the housing choice implementation table (page 4-8) that states: Prioritize updating the duplex and townhouse zoning categories to incorporate design standards into the districts.
2. Provide more clarity to the language regarding locational considerations for different housing types.
Proposed Language (page 3-16): Locational Strategy — When development of different housing types is proposed, location should be an important consideration, along with community feedback, surrounding context, and existing infrastructure and amenities. Properties near transit stations and along commercial corridors, transition areas between nonresidential and existing residential areas, former civic/institutional properties, underutilized shopping centers, and possibly corner lots should be considered for adding these alternative housing types.
Tearing down existing housing for replacement and incompatible infill is not encouraged by this plan. Existing housing stock should be preserved and retained whenever possible to maintain stable neighborhoods and minimize the displacement of existing residents, particularly in areas identified as high risk for displacement.
3. Add additional language from the 2006 plan about supporting stable neighborhoods and promoting more homeownership opportunities.
Proposed language (page 3-14): The Community Residential placetype represents a major mainstay of Dallas. The quality of life in Dallas is reflected in the quality of its neighborhoods. Neighborhoods in this placetype are celebrated for the resilience, value, and stability they add to the city. This plan is designed to support the vital foundation of our existing neighborhoods, promote new, walkable neighborhoods, and encourage support for neighborhoods in need of revitalization. It is vital that in stable neighborhoods, the City, developers, and the local community work together on any proposed changes to bring about quality, sustainable, and equitable development that complements the existing context.
Improving opportunities for more home ownership opportunities is also important within this placetype. Dallas has a high percentage of rental housing, especially concentrated in large apartment complexes. Based on public research and community workshops, there is an unmet demand for more homeownership, including traditional single-family homes, townhouses, duplexes, and condominiums.
4. Add more focus on housing affordability; improve notification and engagement in zoning cases
Potential Additions:
- Prioritize the development of a single-family density bonus program to ensure that new “missing middle” housing units (including townhomes, duplexes, triplexes, etc.) in existing single-family neighborhoods are appropriately priced to low and moderate-income families.
- Develop a comprehensive city-wide community engagement strategy to ensure that all impacted residents including renters are appropriately notified and engaged in neighborhood planning and development projects.
Finding a Compromise
Councilman Ridley led the charge in introducing amendments. Deputy Planning Director Andrea Gilles said many of the changes were incorporated into Tuesday’s briefing based on suggestions made by Ridley, Stewart, and Narvaez at last week’s Economic Development Committee meeting.
Local journalist Jim Schutze credited Ridley with “resolving the ForwardDallas land use planning mess.”
“He has come up with a compromise that seems to be acceptable to the rest of [the Economic Development Committee},” Schutze wrote on social media after Tuesday’s meeting. “If this thing is really fixed, I guess my own two bits worth would be that it took two things. It took Ridley … But it also took strong neighborhood uprising.”
An updated version of the plan will be available to the public prior to the Sept. 25 public hearing, staff members confirmed.
Paula Blackmon, who is not a member of the Economic Development Committee, attended Tuesday’s meeting and said the compromises are a good first step toward rebuilding public trust.
“I ask that all these edits, additions, and changes be made public before the 25th,” Blackmon said. “We want this to be a document that serves all of us and not just a few of us. This could be a step in the right direction to regain that trust and start working together.”
While there was a lot of metaphorical applause among council members for reaching a compromise, some remained skeptical. Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn said she had input but it was irrelevant once the committee agreed to push the plan forward to the full council.
“I guess I’ll wait until it comes to the full council,” she said.
Councilwoman Arnold said single-family zoning in a major city should not be experimented with like a science fair project.
“I’m going to encourage the community to stay woke,” she said. ”You have a right to question, and you have a right today to go home not comfortable.”
