City Hall Roundup: DallasNow, Paxton Unloads

If anyone’s interested in what’s been going on at Dallas City Hall recently, we’ve got some of that for you this Easter.

The biggest news, at least from my perspective, is City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert hitting the pause button on all new real estate acquisitions until new procedures are put in place to better guide City Hall on the buying and management of such property. All this stems from the embarrassing “Lemon on Stemmons” office tower debacle. You can read about that here.

Here’s some other important highlights, though:

Upcoming DallasNow Platform Launch

Here’s an important one for anyone who needs particular permitting, zoning, inspection, or development services from the city in the very near future.

For the past two years, the city’s been working on a new “user-friendly system that will streamline the Planning & Development functions and improve transparency” for customers. This new online land management platform is called DallasNow.

Those subscribed to its various newsletters likely know that City Hall has been prepping for its launch for a little while now, namely because a number of Planning & Development services will be suspended between April 25 and May 4, including all permitting, engineering review processes, payment collection, and certain online scheduling.

Once up and running, DallasNow promises “real-time notifications that can include confirmations, permits, inspection status and/or itemized fee descriptions; ability to apply, review, and track progress electronically; submit online payments; and notifications to all contacts in record.”

To accommodate the suspension of services due to system migration, Oak Cliff Municipal Center started running more hours Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. These extended hours will only run through April 24.

Anyone looking to ever deal with DallasNow would be wise to check out some of the demonstrations scheduled:

• April 29 @ Architecture & Design Exchange (325 N St. Paul St. #150, Dallas) from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
• April 30 @ Dallas Builders Association (5816 W Plano Pkwy, Plano) from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Wait, there’s more, according to the city:

“An open house will be held at [Oak Cliff Municipal Center] beginning May 5 through May 16, offering hourly applicant and contractor guidance sessions, with virtual options available through the Dallas.gov/DallasNow page. Ongoing weekly sessions may be offered after May 16, depending on participation and need.”

Plan accordingly everyone, because this is going to be a big shakeup. If anyone wants to share their experience — whether it has to do with the suspension of services or DallasNow in action — please reach out to [email protected].

Paxton Sues Dallas Over Gun Bans at Majestic Theatre, Music Hall

So, the City of Dallas owns a lot of real estate — some 5,800 properties, apparently — including the Majestic Theatre and the Music Hall at Fair Park. Litigious as ever, Attorney General Ken Paxton set his sights on the above-mentioned locations for the gun restrictions they maintain, and he’s suing the city over them.

“Cities like Dallas have no authority to override state statutes that enable license holders to lawfully carry their handguns and protect themselves from potential threats,” Paxton said in a news release. “I will always do everything in my power to defend Texans’ gun rights from cities that would strip us of our legal rights.”

Here’s an important factor, though: the city leases both locations. Texas law does prohibit government bodies from banning firearms on property they own or lease, but who’s doing the banning here?

Paxton previously sued the city over the State Fair of Texas banning firearms in most cases, a move that stemmed from a shooting at the fair in 2023. The Texas Supreme Court allowed the ban to go into effect last year since the State Fair of Texas is a private nonprofit. While the city owns Fair Park, it claimed it had no hand in the ban. Litigation’s still pending on that one.