Implementation of South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan Needs Community Input

City officials are gearing up to implement the zoning and land use guidance from the South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan that city council members adopted this summer.

The final plan was the culmination of years of work by officials, neighborhood residents, and other stakeholders who set out to develop a five-year strategy to revitalize the area while preserving the historically significant community.

The Little Area Plan That Could: South Dallas Residents Shape Their Future

This fall, the city’s Planning and Development Department will host three public meetings to engage residents in determining future land use and development within PD 595, the special purpose district that comprises most of the land covered by the area plan.

The plan calls for rezoning to allow for more mixed-use development as well as a greater number of housing options and ownership opportunities. Here are some of the action steps laid out in the plan that officials will work to implement:

• Amend the PD to allow for properties in the Duplex zoning district to be subdivided so that each household can own both their half of the structure and land.
• Amend the PD to allow ADUs with development standards from the ADU overlay district.
• Review the parking mandate in the PD, and if not addressed through citywide policies, reduce or in some cases, remove the parking mandate from the PD.
• Review development possibilities and address potential hurdles on the 2800 and 2900 block of MLK Jr. Blvd., Meadow St. between Al Lipscomb and MLK Jr. Blvd., along the 3100 block of South Blvd., and on vacant properties on Al Lipscomb Way between Robert B. Cullum and Meyers St. and along the 3100 block of South Blvd.
• Review the zoning for mixed-use placetypes to allow for a mix of uses in high-, mid-, and low-rise buildings.

While officials and residents alike have decried the relative lack of private investment in southern parts of the city, many in the neighborhood are wary of the potential for gentrification and displacement. PD 595 falls within parts of the city that the housing advocacy group Builders of Hope determined were most vulnerable to displacement pressures.

Such concerns were voiced during the development of the area plan, and action steps were adopted to mitigate the impact of new development. They include:

• Provide educational workshops on homestead exemptions and the appeal process for property valuations.
• Work with Legal Aid of Northwest Texas to host heirship property education workshops annually.
• Prioritize neighborhood stabilization efforts in neighborhoods identified as most susceptible to displacement.

What Dallas Neighborhoods Are Vulnerable to Gentrification? More Than You Think

A kickoff meeting to introduce zoning concepts is scheduled for next Tuesday, Oct. 14, in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center at 2901 Pennsylvania Ave. from 6 to 7:30 p.m. 

The next meeting to review zoning recommendations will take place on Nov. 11 in Exline Recreation Center at 2525 Pine St. The last meeting will be back at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center on Dec. 9 to seek consensus on zoning changes.

Assuming no additional community meetings are necessary, rezoning proposals would then go to the City Plan Commission for consideration before advancing to the full city council for approval.