Last night, DART hosted a follow-up community meeting to discuss plans for their Lake Highlands Station to be built at the LH Town Center site. As evidenced by the heated discussion, a large majority of members of Lake Highlands North Homeowners’ Association are strongly against access from their neighborhood to the DART station, hike and bike trail, and town center.
The LHNHOA was highly organized with a large turnout. Speaker after speaker stated their concerns that a DART station and trail with White Rock Trail access and insufficient parking will result in residents of other neighborhoods – even other cities – parking near their homes and walking to the station.
DART also came prepared. DART chief architect David Ehrlicher and Project Manager Reza Shirmanesh shared updates to the plans, which included 66 new parking spaces (the project had previously been designed as a “Kiss and Ride” drop off point) and more in phase two if needed. They also shared three alternatives which use Walnut Hill as the drop off point instead of White Rock Trail. They stressed, however, that the question of eastside access is moot if the city does not fund the trail. No hike/bike trail will mean no access via White Rock Trail.
City of Dallas Parks and Recreation’s Jared White described several other locations in Dallas where DART stations, hike/bike trails, and neighborhoods coexist peacefully. A few brave souls stood to say they live in the area and actually look forward to walking or biking from their home nearby to use the trail and the station. They were outnumbered. As it became more and more contentious, a few rose to encourage a more respectful discourse.
This neighborhood is divided, as many in Lake Highlands are, largely by their “stage of life.” The couples who’ve lived here for many years and whose children are long gone tend to stand on one side, and the young families who arrived in the past five years tend to land on the other. One side fears crime will weaken what they worked so hard for, while the other hopes an active urban lifestyle will make LH the dream home they’ll want to stay in for a lifetime.
The final speaker thanked DART for being “a listening organization.” At multiple meetings over multiple months, DART and the City of Dallas have taken in community input and made adjustments. DART acknowledged they can’t possibly make everyone happy when even the residents disagree. They did pledge, however, to bring the next round of plans back to LH for discussion in August.
