After Dallas City Council voted to adopt the ForwardDallas 2.0 comprehensive land use plan last Wednesday, District 10 Councilmember Kathy Stewart says she is confident in the protections for single family neighborhoods.
Stewart at the Sept. 3 Economic Development Committee meeting.
One of the plan’s main aims is to add density in order to increase housing opportunities in certain areas. The plan is not a zoning ordinance or a binding decision, rather a guide to future zoning decisions.
In the runup to the vote, many residents voiced concerns over the document’s language regarding the possibility of duplexes and multiplexes in single family neighborhoods. Stewart said that going forward, she will look at ways to better encourage community input, which she feels was one of the process’s main shortcomings.
“We have hit these places with our residents where they’re very uncomfortable with how things have laid out, and they’re looking to us and our leadership to come up with a better process,” Stewart said. “So I think we are challenged at this point to work on that process so that people do feel that they are part of it, that their thoughts and their concerns are being listened to and factored into the decisions that are made.”
Plan amendments
City Council added numerous amendments both in committee and as a whole prior to its passing, which Stewart believes provided enough protections for single-family neighborhoods. Stewart sits on the Economic Development Committee, which was responsible for many of the amendments.
“I know it is a document that will be used and will be referenced,” Stewart said, “but I think we put enough language in there, cautionary language, that will protect our single family neighborhoods.”
The plan, which is not a zoning ordinance but rather a guide to future zoning decisions, organizes Dallas’s neighborhoods into placetypes, such as “Community Residential,” or single-family in layman’s terms.
“Those are our single-family home neighborhoods, and those are near and dear to everyone’s heart. It’s where we find communities, as I said, where we raise our families,” Stewart said. “They’re our home. And anytime there is a perceived threat, it’s going to create some deep concerns.”
Community Residential
One of the biggest concerns came from the “Community Residential” placetype’s listed primary uses, which includes both single-family detached and attached homes. The single-family attached use originally included townhomes, duplexes and triplexes, but triplexes were eventually removed and listed in the multiplex secondary use for “Community Residential.”
To address concerns over duplexes and townhomes, which are still listed primary uses under the single family detached, the language of the “Community Residential” placetype’s locational strategy was further shored up.
Amendments added language that stated that new zoning should consider “community feedback, surrounding context, and existing infrastructure and amenities.” It was also added that “Incompatible rezoning of individual single-family lots, especially midblock, is generally discouraged” in the “Community Residential” placetype.
Amendments to the locational strategy further stipulated that tearing down existing housing for “incompatible” uses should not be encouraged in the placetype.
“The design and locational strategy language gives pretty significant protections,” Stewart says, “because those were the concerns, that somebody could come in and build something that is not compatible in terms of design, looks out of place, and then also could come midblock and put in a duplex or triplex, and that would be incompatible in the sense of context and character.”
Secondary uses
The “Community Residential” placetype’s listed secondary uses also caused unease among residents. Multiplexes — multifamily developments with less than eight attached dwellings — in addition to apartments and mixed-use developments, were listed as secondary uses which “may serve to support or complement the primary land use in a placetype.”
To counter these concerns, the language regarding secondary uses was changed to include “often requires justification, higher scrutiny, and adherence with the locational strategy.” Additionally, amendments further stipulated that the building of multiplex developments should be prioritized on thoroughfares, not existing single-family neighborhood streets.
Looking forward
Throughfare-driven development is exactly how Stewart sees density and housing being added in Lake Highlands.
“I think the strategy for District 10 has been to put our density on our major corridors,” Stewart says. “And I think that makes sense, and I think we should continue with that. I think at this point, where we have found little pockets of infill where David Weekley has been able to put in more density, and I mentioned those behind the Kroger on Plano road, or what they’re doing at Greenville and Whitehurst right now.”
Looking forward, Stewart says she believes in the plan, and that it should be utilized going forward.
“I believe our residents now support that document, so let’s use it. I mean, we’ve certainly worked hard to get here. So let’s use it as we move forward and are making decisions about the future of development in District 10.”
