Dallas City Council members were given a briefing in early February pertaining to the City’s updated comprehensive land use plan called “Forward Dallas.”
Forward Dallas is defined as a “long-range future land use vision that guides how and where the city grows over the coming decades and describes how to achieve that vision.”
Instead of prescribing a blanket answer on how best to develop particular areas of the city, Forward Dallas lays out a framework for continued conversation regarding the implementation of future zoning and code changes, all of which will include additional community engagement.
As an update to the City’s 2006 plan, Forward Dallas serves more as a “guiding vision document” and less as a “regulatory document,” Andrea Gilles, Planning and Urban Design interim director, explained during a Dallas City Council briefing earlier this month.
This means that while Forward Dallas can recommend zoning changes like smaller lot sizes, it is up to the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Commission, City Plan Commission, and, ultimately, the Dallas City Council to approve any and all recommendations.
To facilitate the region’s future growth, District 1 Council Member Chad West said he wants to allow multi-unit dwellings in single-family zoning districts, The Dallas Express previously reported.
However, many local residents took issue with West’s proposal, arguing during a January 9 workshop that it would destroy single-family neighborhoods and neglect parts of Southern Dallas.
“Driving density using a blunt-force approach of by-right development of duplex, triplex, fourplex, and accessory dwelling units in single-family neighborhoods rings favorably only to developers,” claimed Dallas resident Greg Estell, CandysDirt.com reported. “It’s lazy policy.”
Forward Dallas’ project manager, Lawrence Agu, assured council members and residents during the February briefing that the plan would not eliminate single-family zoning or neighborhoods.
“Any density [changes] suggested in single-family communities should be designed to scale, sensitive to the existing context, be incremental, and involve the community through an engagement process,” City staff stated in their presentation.
Dallas City Council members will vote on the Forward Dallas land use plan sometime in May.
