Light Upzoning in North Dallas Spurs Backlash

A rezoning approval in Dallas is spurring backlash from the community, reports Matt Goodman. The City Council voted to upzone the 3.5-acre lot owned by the city to allow for the construction of 26 single-family homes in an area that would have previously only allowed for nine on a lot of that size. Money from the purchase would fund the refurbishment of a local library, per the bond covenant created in 2006 when the city bought the parcel. As Goodman writes, this is a only small increase in density. "This is not an affordable housing story. It’s not market rate apartments." The homes, if built, will sell for over $1 million each. 

The majority of the city council supported the proposal. "The city will never build its way out of its housing shortage if it allows neighborhoods to remain in stasis, particularly with a plot of land that has sat unused for more than a decade."

But neighbors want to see fewer homes, despite assurances from city engineers that the development would not have a negative impact on traffic and concessions from the developer that include "larger setbacks, no second-story windows on homes facing the neighborhood, moving the power lines, planting more trees and replacing any that die or are damaged, installing 6-foot-wide sidewalks." 

The council's decision to move forward with the rezoning could impact future developments in other parts of the city.