Dallas City Council to Vote Wednesday on Lakewood Conservation District Expansion 

A battle of property rights versus historic preservation and neighborhood compatibility will come to a head this week as the Dallas City Council is slated to vote on the Lakewood Conservation District expansion. 

The City Plan Commission, a quasi-judicial body appointed by the council, removed a large chunk of the proposed expansion area in November and recommended the conservation district for approval. Lakewood is in East Dallas’ District 9, represented by CPC Commissioner Neal Sleeper and Councilmember Paula Blackmon. 

Blackmon is seeking re-election in May against Ernest P. Banda. 

Commission Adjusts Lakewood Conservation District Boundaries, Next Stop City Council

The expansion boundaries were proposed to the CPC to include the alleys between Westlake Avenue and Meadow Lake Avenue and between Lakewood Boulevard and Westlake Avenue on the north, Lawther Drive on the east, Tokalon Drive and the alleys between Tokalon Drive and both Pasadena Avenue and Avalon Avenue and the alley between Lorna Lane and Avalon Avenue on the south, and Brendenwood Drive, Copperfield Lane and the alley south of Westlake, and Wendover Road on the west. 

The CPC approved the proposed expansion as recommended by staff with the following areas removed, as suggested by Commissioner Sleeper:

• City Block K/2825 described as the “half” along the northern side of Lakeshore between Windover Road and Copperfield;
• The area west of Westshore Drive and south of the north portion of City Block F/2821 fronting Lakeshore Drive and south of the north portion of City Block E/2820 fronting Lakewood Boulevard;
• The area lots fronting on either side of Westlake Drive east of Westshore Drive;
• The area southeast of Lakewood Boulevard and north of Heath Street;
• The area along the southeast line of Tokalon Drive northeast of Winstead Drive

“I know it’s been a very taxing project for everyone, and that’s unfortunate,” Sleeper said at the November CPC meeting. “I don’t see any rights or wrongs in this group. They’re all people who want to do the right thing, do a good thing, with just a difference of opinion on how to get there.”

A conservation district allows neighborhoods to establish exterior design criteria and other standards to preserve the character of an area. An ordinance is established for each conservation district that details the regulations homeowners must follow in any renovations or new construction and must ultimately be approved by the Dallas City Council.

Summer Loveland’s Plight 

The original Lakewood Conservation District, formed in 1988, starts at Abrams Road and does not extend east of Brendenwood or Copperfield drives. Hundreds of the original homes on Lakewood, Lakeshore, Avalon, Tokalon, and Westlake are not protected, according to the Lakewood Conservation District Facebook page. 

“Unprotected” means to Lakewood residents like Summer Loveland that those homes — including architecturally significant showpieces designed by Clifford Hutsell — could be bulldozed and replaced with structures that are incompatible with the rest of the neighborhood. 

Loveland told CandysDirt.com in January 2024 that it was clear city staff took into account the wishes of all residents in the proposed expansion area when drafting the ordinance. 

Will Dallas City Council Pass the Lakewood Conservation District Expansion? I Hope

“There is a lot of leeway and optionality provided in the standards, allowing homeowners flexibility in a remodel, expansion, or new construction,” she said. “This ordinance meets the objectives of protecting the character of our neighborhood and preventing the destruction of architecturally significant homes unless they are in major disrepair.”

Furthermore, Loveland has genuine concerns about teardowns in the neighborhood, which mourned the 2023 demolition of the historic Hutsell-designed home that once stood at 7226 Lakewood Blvd.

“Without the passage of this ordinance, we will continue to see the character of our neighborhood and value of our historic properties diminished,” Loveland said. 

No to CD2

About half the residents in the affected area oppose the expansion — with some even refusing to acknowledge it’s an expansion, characterizing it as an additional conservation district. About 200 comment cards were submitted at the November CPC meeting. Eighteen neighborhood meetings have been held since the effort began in earnest in late 2022. Both sides have accused the other of spreading misinformation. 

City Plan Commission to Consider Lakewood Conservation District Expansion on Nov. 21

In an email to Lakewood residents who have joined the “No to CD2” group, Julie Broberg noted that the process has brought “years of sh*tshow but also very cool years of gatherings at 6945 Tokalon to get advice from [former CPC member] Rob Richmond. The threat of this ‘expansion’ created a varied and sometimes raucous community that [my husband] Brad and I look forward to rejoining.”

The Brobergs remain at the forefront of the battle against the conservation district but have since moved out of state. A “No to CD2” email chain that includes more than 170 residents has been going strong since Councilmember Blackmon announced the item would be on Wednesday’s agenda. 

“For the past 3 ½ years our peace has been disturbed by this proposal to expand the conservation district,” wrote Kathleen Erdman, who said she has lived in the neighborhood for 45 years. “I have watched our friends react by selling their houses and moving away. Some new owners kept the house within the original style. Some of the buyers chose to tear down the house they bought and build much larger houses that stood out as quite different. It looked like many neighbors chose to sell or remodel quickly before the expansion was a reality. So, we have lost some friends to other neighborhoods. This proposal has caused a rift that has been painful. The meeting with the planning commission was hostile and dialogue was absent.”

Erdman said she felt relief when the CPC recommended a reduction in the number of affected properties. 

“Learning that the process was not over pending this next meeting of the City Council was devastating,” she said. “There are many of us still fighting to keep our homes, OUR HOMES.” 

The latest 49-page draft ordinance is posted online and interested parties can watch the video from the Nov. 21 CPC meeting here. Wednesday’s City Council meeting will be live-streamed and archived here.