Thirty-three alleys in Dallas could become trails paved with decomposed granite or sidewalks, like the one pictured above, if adjacent homeowners agree to maintain them.
One of the potential sites is in Hamilton Park, between Oberlin Drive and Hallum Street.
The City of Dallas has $4 million budgeted to convert these alleys, which are no longer used for trash and have few utilities. A city ordinance approved last year enables the city to enter maintenance agreements with homeowners.
The city has identified 33 sites for alley trails (view the full list at the bottom of this post). The Department of Public Works reports that neighborhood associations have been unresponsive, but letters sent to adjacent homeowners are beginning to receive responses. Two-thirds of adjacent neighbors must agree for the projects to move forward.
These are the criteria used to select the sites as well as other requirements.
The city is contacting neighborhood associations and all of the more than 530 adjacent property owners in an effort to gain their involvement. It’s use it or lose it. Any of the $4 million not spent on these projects because of a lack of neighborhood interest will be put into the Department of Public Works maintenance fund.
During a briefing on the project this week, City Councilmember Jaynie Schultz suggested taking the opportunity to cultivate community leadership and engagement in neighborhoods where there’s less response. She asked if it could be possible to bring in experts on building community leadership to add a “human connection” to the project.
Alley-cleaning update
The city is also spending $4.8 million budgeted for one-time cleanups of 1,365 alleys in places where they had become a nuisance.
Since October, public works has cleaned 581 alleys.
Click here for the full presentation from the Department of Public Works.
Below is the list of all of the sites eligible for alley trails.
