Building Permits
This week’s City Hall roundup is going to focus on the latest black eyes at the Dallas Department of Planning & Development, which handles permitting, zoning, urban design, and other development-related responsibilities. Staff at the department had a rough go of it last week when some of its costly blunders made headlines, earning the city…
Writing about the Dallas Planning and Development Department is tricky. We frequently hear readers say that morale is low, many good employees have departed, the leadership doesn’t listen, and no one wants to do business here. We hear from builders who actually do business in Dallas and want to give staff the benefit of the…
A new year signifies new beginnings, but in the City of Dallas, it also means revisiting some old things in need of an update. A case in point is the Dallas development code, which was paused while the Planning and Development Services Department focused a significant amount of resources and manpower on the ForwardDallas 2.0…
Residents of the Elm Thicket/Northpark neighborhood won the largest downzoning case in Dallas history in 2022, but now after a controversial Board of Adjustment ruling last month, they fear allowing one builder to continue construction will have precedent-setting implications. This month, the Dallas Board of Adjustment ruled that Akber Meghani, who violated the years-old zoning…
The City of Dallas appears to be making good on its promise to ease the permitting process for new construction, years after technology and staff bottlenecks brought permits to a grinding halt and months after builders and neighbors were entangled in a permitting mess in Elm Thicket. In late July, builders were granted permits under…