Residents of neighborhoods surrounding the Audelia-Skillman-LBJ Freeway intersection are preparing for another battle over zoning at the Plaza Rios shopping center – the second such skirmish in four years.
At issue is the maximum allowable height for buildings that could be erected on the property, specifically on a currently undeveloped, grassy site behind the main part of the shopping center. Developer William Waugh has filed a request for a zoning change that would allow structures up to 135 feet tall, or 10 stories.
Residents say they are adamantly opposed to the request, and feel betrayed by the City and Waugh. A hearing on the request is scheduled Aug. 12 at City Hall.
Waugh declined to be interviewed. But Kirk Williams, his attorney in the zoning case, said the developer is open to discussing residents’ concerns and considering alternatives.
As for the current zoning, “We don’t think it’s appropriate,” Williams says.
Williams says discussion of what could happen at Plaza Rios would be premature, because there are no immediate plans for development. The zoning request applies to the entire shopping center, but further construction most likely would occur behind existing buildings, he says.
A bitter fight between homeowners and Waugh in the 1980s, when the City was re-evaluating zoning throughout Dallas, ended in 1989 when the Plaza Rios tract was rezoned for a maximum height of 90 feet, or seven stories. Before the compromise, Waugh was seeking a 14-story maximum height, and the City staff was recommending 10.
Residents thought the 1989 compromise meant the issue had been put to rest, but Waugh was not satisfied. He sued the City in 1990, claiming the rezoning unfairly deprived him of land assets.
When Waugh purchased the lot, industrial zoning allowed a maximum height of 241feet, or about 21 stories. The lawsuit, seeking unspecified compensation, remains pending. However, residents say a lawyer representing Waugh met with them in late May and indicated the suit would be dropped if homeowners would support the developer’s request for 10 stories.
“We just told him there would be a fight on their hands,” says Peggy Hill, a real estate agent and vice president of the Lake Highlands Homeowners Association.
Assistant City Attorney John Rogers, who is representing the City in Waugh’s lawsuit, says the developer is using the suit “as a tool to rezone his property.”
Rogers said the City already had filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds Waugh has never submitted plans to develop the site.
Representatives of the various area homeowner groups began gathering signatures on petitions opposing Waugh’s request in early July, and they say they will insist that the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council honor the 1989 decision.
City Council member Donna Halstead, who represents Lake Highlands, declined to discuss Waugh’s request, saying she cannot take a position until the request has gone through the planning and zoning committee process. Halstead was a leading opponent of high-rise plans when she was president of the Lake Highlands Homeowners Association.
Ed Barger, the Lake Highlands representative to the planning and zoning commission, says he is meeting with the parties in the dispute in an attempt to reach a compromise. It is too early, he says, for him to announce whether he is in favor of the request. However, Barger – who lives near Town Creek – was among the residents who opposed plans to give Waugh the same zoning classification in 1989.
Problems that led residents to oppose the added density of high-rise construction near the intersection in the 1980s have only worsened, said Thom Densmore, president of the Glen Oaks Townhomes Homeowners Association.
Traffic is one of the top concerns, and the LBJ-Skillman-Audelia intersection has been called one of the most congested in the City. The unusual convergence of at least three main streets and numerous small and mid-size streets at LBJ Freeway has created a maze of intersections, traffic lights and stop signs that is confusing even during off-peak traffic periods.
Construction underway to widen some of the streets has only made congestion worse in the short term, residents say. Long-term plans to untangle the intersection probably will not be developed until the state highway department decides how it wants to expand LBJ.
Meanwhile, the ongoing reconstruction of North Central Expressway has made Skillman an alternate north-south thoroughfare for Downtown commuters.
Residents also wonder where office workers would park if taller buildings are allowed in the shopping center. Compared with most shopping centers in the surrounding area, Plaza Rios is one of the most luxurious, best-leased and most used, Hill says.
Parking already is at a premium, and residents wonder how much parking could be built underground at the site because of an existing drainage system.
Property values and quality of life are other concerns. Homeowners says the believe future buyers in the area will be less inclined to pay top-dollar for houses that are shadowed by tall office buildings and surrounded by congested streets.
“We want to come home to a place that’s peaceful,” Densmore says. “We don’t want to come home to another office tower.”
Says Bill Blaydes, president of the Lake Highlands Homeowners Association and a member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment: “If he truly has no plans, then we believe the City is conducting speculative zoning, which it claims to abhor.”
And finally, there is the deep-felt concern that Plaza Rios will be the beginning of a domino effect if Waugh’s request is approved. Property owners in other corners of the intersection, particularly those with freeway frontage, likely will want similar concessions, homeowners say.
“We are the silent majority, but we can’t afford to be quiet any longer,” Hill says. “There are just so many issues going on…I think as soon as the developers realize we’re a strong force to contend with, they’ll leave us alone. If we win this one, each fight afterward will be easier.”
