Last time we updated you on the future of the former Army reserve center on Northwest Highway, the city was expected to turn in a revised application by roughly June 10, making the case that the site should be used for its park and recreation department.
If you remember, HUD had initially told the city no go — that the site probably would need to be used to assist the city’s homeless, according to federal law (more on that below).
I received an update from Congressman Jeb Hensarling‘s office today, and learned that "the city has received an extension from HUD to submit the revised application, and HUD has allocated time to assess it before rendering a final decision." Hensarling has been involved in the process at the request of councilmen Jerry Allen and Sheffie Kadane, who spearheaded a joint federal-local effort after HUD handed down its initial decision. The two councilmen have been setting up regular meetings with city staff and City Council to "work with the city on the revised application to go to HUD, and they are doing a thorough and detailed revision of the application. The city manager has assembled a team across all related city offices to ensure all aspects of the application are covered," says Hensarling’s spokeswoman, Debbee Keller.
She also pointed out that "HUD has been very responsive and open with the city during in this entire process, and remains a good partner in working with the city."
So it appears that if the need to use the site for the park and recreation department can be justified, it will be.
The reason the city can’t simply do what it wants with the site is because (more background, thanks to Keller) Muchert is a Department of Defense facility, [and] long-standing federal law requires that any federal facility declared as ‘excess’ (which includes the Muchert Center because it was identified for closure in the latest BRAC [Base Realignment and Closure] round) be reviewed for its use in assisting the homeless."
Big side note here: Keller says this does not necessarily mean a homeless shelter. "It could be counseling, rehab, education, workforce training, etc." But she adds the law does mean that, "in most cases, homeless-related groups would get first dibs on an ‘excess’ federal building. However, the law provides for other groups/organizations to propose alternate uses for the buildings, and to indicate why their proposed use would outweigh the need to support the homeless."
The BRAC process appoints the local government as the entity in charge of soliciting proposals to use excess military properties (known formally as an Local Redevelopment Authority, or LRA), and the city of Dallas was appointed in that position by the Department of Defense. "The city reviewed several proposals and eventually selected the parks and recreation department’s proposal to use the Muchert Center as a regional HQ and maintenance depot," Keller says.
"The city believed they were helping the homeless in other ways, and the park’s use would be justified."
So far, HUD hasn’t agreed with the city’s justification, so we’ll see what happens.
