Dallas Couple Fights for Senior Homestead Exemption, DCAD Says It’s a Warehouse

An 83-year-old retired Southern Methodist University golf coach and his 74-year-old interior designer wife clearly qualify for a senior homestead exemption due to their age, but property tax bills are due today, and no such exemption exists for Barry Rodenhaver and Cindy Zelazny-Rodenhaver. 

That’s because the Dallas Central Appraisal District is classifying the home in which the Rodenhavers have lived since 2014 as a commercial property. No one’s going to call 2303 Farrington St. a traditional ranch-style abode, but to the Rodenhavers, it’s home. They live there, after all. 

The Farrington Street property is about 3,500 square feet. It sits on the Trinity River and offers great views of downtown from a rooftop balcony. If you Google it, you’re likely to pull up a flower shop; that’s a neighbor (the Rodenhavers are in Suite 110). Many people live in nontraditional homes in the area, which once was zoned industrial, but the Rodenhavers fought for years to change the property’s classification to “live-work.” They spent about $15,000 on permits and inspections, and a new certificate of occupancy reflecting the change was issued in May 2024. 

“It’s been an emotional strain, particularly on Cindy, to the point where she cries,” Barry said of his wife, who is a cancer survivor. “It seems like it’s so hard to get things done that seem to be so reasonable. They’re just acting like live-work doesn’t mean a bloody thing. Yes, it’s been a commercial area but it’s turning into residential very quickly.”

 “Everybody down here lived in their warehouse,” Cindy said. “We came here with the intention of living here. We had it finished out like a home and sold our other home. We had to get our CO changed to say ‘live-work,’ so we would be perfectly legal.” 

But they still can’t get the homestead exemption. 

The couple has been married for 27 years. They have four children and 10 grandchildren, split between Dallas and the East Coast. The Rodenhavers are still employed, Cindy as an art dealer and decorator, and Barry as a teacher. 

“We just want to be able to retire and live peacefully, Cindy said. 

Her husband added, “We just want to be homesteaded and able to live honorably and legally like everybody else and be part of the City of Dallas.”  

Property Taxes and Homestead Exemption 

The Rodenhavers paid a property tax bill of $11,863 on Jan. 16 that did not include a senior homestead exemption. Their tax bill was $3,600 when they moved in, and their incomes have not increased, the couple told CandysDirt.com. They said they hope, with the help of public servants like Laura Cadena, who is running for the District 6 Dallas City Council seat, and property tax appeals experts Toby and Will Toler, they’ll be able to get an exemption next year. They didn’t even know their exemption was denied this year until Toby Toler did some research and told them. 

“Our 90 days were up but we had no notification — not by phone, not by mail, not by Pony Express,” Cindy said. 

Cadena, who until recently worked as District 6 Councilmember Omar Narvaez’s chief of staff, stepped in and recommended the Tolers. 

“Connecting Barry and Cindy with resources to help them stay in their home was something I knew I had to do,” Cadena told CandysDirt.com. “The City is in an affordable housing crisis and we must all work together to help our residents, especially our seniors.” 

Cadena’s opponents in the District 6 race include Tony Carrillo, David Blewett, and Gabriel Kissinger. The filing deadline is Feb. 14. 

We talked to the Rodenhavers on Wednesday morning and an inspection with a Dallas Central Appraisal District official was tentatively scheduled for Thursday, but by the time we went to press, that appointment had already been canceled. DCAD Director of Community Relations Cheryl Jordan did not respond to a request for comment. 

The local appraisal district has been through its share of struggles in recent years. DCAD was hacked in November 2022, compromising the personal information of hundreds of customers. Shortly after the hack was resolved, Chief Appraiser Ken Nolan retired and Shane Docherty, a longtime DCAD employee, took the reins. 

2303 Farrington St. 

Cindy Zelazny-Rodenhaver has a shop on Lovers Lane where she meets clients but she keeps a home office at the Farrington property, as many people do now and even more did during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Cindy said an appraiser she spoke to at DCAD expressed a concern that the Farrington home is “definitely a showroom.” 

“It always looked like a showroom,” she said. “I’m an antique dealer. I have been for 48 years, and I have wonderful collections. I’m not apologizing for that to anyone.” 

The Farrington home has a loft with a railing overlooking an open space downstairs. The primary bedroom and kitchen are downstairs with one and one-half baths and the upstairs has two bedrooms and a Jack-and-Jill bathroom. Sounds like a real house, rather than a commercial building, right? 

The Rodenhavers took out dock doors and added egress windows, but upgrades have been minimal. Barry said he could spit in the Trinity River from his parking lot. 

The Rodenhavers have made some lifelong friends through the process of trying to get their homestead exemption. They spent so much time with David Serna of the Dallas fire marshal’s office that he invited them to his wedding last year. 

Cindy said almost everyone they’ve encountered at the City of Dallas has been unbelievably kind, but what they need is someone from DCAD to approve the exemption. 

“We couldn’t have better people fight for us,” she said.