The city of Dallas wants to update its long-range planning for land use, so it’s ready for a variety of housing types as the population grows.
However, the pushback against more density in neighborhoods means the path forward for a new plan remains uncertain.
“It’s kind of rare to have an item that we’ve seen twice in one month,” councilmember Adam Bazaldua said.
But then again, nothing about the path of a proposed Dallas land-use plan has been common so far.
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It’s led to signs taking root in front yards, and half a year of debate at the Dallas City Plan Commission, just to get to Tuesday.
A presentation on ForwardDallas that started by going backward.
“It’s frustrating, clearly you can hear from my response,” Andrea Gilles told a city council committee.
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Gilles, deputy director of the Department of Planning and Development, shared a slide to the Economic and Development Committee on ForwardDallas and what the plan does not do, namely recommend rezoning single-family neighborhoods.
“A large part of the opposition lies in misinformation,” Gilles said.
Dubbed ForwardDallas 2.0, after the original was adopted in 2006, the land-use guide is supposed to allow the city to revise how it looks at a variety of housing, including updating design standards.
Work on the updated plan started in 2021.
It also attempts to address environmental justice in areas where families have historically lived near heavy industrial sites, primarily in west and southern Dallas.
But persistent concerns over duplexes, triplexes and multi-family housing and its potential effect on established neighborhoods, keep consensus on ForwardDallas stuck in neutral.
“We’re running the risk of scaring future property owners off when it comes to Dallas,” councilmember Carolyn King Arnold said.
“I’ve been trying to look at where there could be opportunities for compromise,” Bazaldua said.
Compromise this same committee will try to find when it takes a third look at ForwardDallas after Labor Day.
