(Candy’s Dirt) – A proposal for 1,500 housing units at District 11’s Pepper Square mixed-use development has reportedly been revised and will go before the Dallas Plan Commission for a vote on Aug. 8.
As zoning cases adjacent to single-family homes are prone to do, this one has strong opposition.
Following an acrimonious neighborhood meeting in early March, a group of residents created a petition to recall Councilwoman Jaynie Schultz, who represents the area around the shopping center at Preston and Belt Line roads.
There’s also a bit of a whisper campaign that land use consultants with Masterplan, including former Dallas City Councilman Lee Kleinman, are dragging the case out indefinitely to line their pockets.
The zoning application will have to get past the City Plan Commission and City Council to become a reality. Residents gathered on July 18 to strategize about the upcoming City Plan Commission meeting. We’ll have coverage of the Pepper Square Neighborhood Coalition meeting in a separate story later this week.
Jaynie Schultz’s Take on Pepper Square
Councilwoman Schultz, who twice defeated CandysDirt.com publisher Candy Evans in Dallas municipal elections, addressed the Pepper Square matter in a June 28 newsletter to constituents.
“While many believe the shopping center can be revitalized without any residential development, this is not an option for the owners,” Schultz wrote. “Leaving the center ‘as is’ with only 40% leased is not sustainable. As such, we must develop a plan that serves the area [and its] residents, protects beloved local shops, and allows for redevelopment.”
Pepper Square conceptual plan | Image by Masterplan
The main points of concern about the original proposal for Pepper Square are the number of units per acre and the building height, Schultz said in her email.
“Taller buildings with a smaller footprint allow for more greenspace,” Schultz said. “Some neighbors are concerned about having a building on the east side of Preston similar in height to those on the west side, and we hear you. At the same time, sprawling four- or five-story buildings create more surface coverage and large blocks of apartments, even if the buildings only have 300 to 400 units. Additionally, any building over five stories, excluding podium parking, must use steel rather than wood, resulting in a better project. We are also requiring all residential parking to be in garages, eliminating the massive parking lots currently at Pepper Square.”
Schultz announced Tuesday in an email to constituents that she would not seek re-election in 2025.
Opposition to Pepper Square
Natalie LeVeck, a D11 resident whose husband Damien LeVeck created a series of YouTube videos blasting Schultz and the Pepper Square proposal, reached out to the City Plan Commission via email on July 12.
A 12-story apartment building next to single-family homes doesn’t “match the low-rise scale of the community residential placetype,” LeVeck said, referencing a guideline in the city’s FowardDallas land use plan, which is also under review by the CPC and will be the subject of a public hearing Thursday.
“And of course, the proposed building scale, height, and massing don’t complement the existing buildings that are [at] the Pepper Square intersection (single-story Tom Thumb, Hobby Lobby, Trader Joe’s, etc.) or the neighboring single-family residential neighborhoods,” LeVeck wrote. “I understand that most of you support density and affordable housing, but the current Pepper Square proposal 1) isn’t density that’s in conformity with the ForwardDallas plan as currently drafted, and 2) is not affordable. It’s luxury, and estimates [show] $3,000/month for one-bedroom apartments.”
LeVeck added that the current proposal only accomplishes putting money in the pockets of developers.
“I’m not trying to be a conspiracy theorist — truly,” she wrote in the email. “I can’t figure out what we’re doing other than pissing off nearby homeowners and ensuring larger profit margins for [applicant] Henry S. Miller. Please consider the voices of all of the residents who are emailing you and will undoubtedly continue emailing — the current proposal is not IT. Yes, there’s a way to improve Pepper Square but high-rise apartments aren’t it.”
Masterplan’s Proposal For Pepper Square
According to the Masterplan website, where all related plans and rezoning documents are posted, consultants Kleinman and Andrew Ruegg claim:
“By right, the Pepper Square site could be developed with approximately 400,000 square feet of retail, 75,000 square feet of supermarket, and 275,000 square feet of restaurant, which would lead to over 40,000 daily trips, nearly 3,200 AM peak hour trips, and over 2,400 PM peak hour trips.
The proposed site generates 76% fewer daily, AM peak hour, and PM peak hour trips. A full lease-up of the existing Pepper Square businesses would generate approximately half of the full by-right trips, so the proposed Pepper Square redevelopment generates approximately 50% fewer trips than the existing site would generate if fully leased. The proposed redevelopment plan significantly reduces the by-right trip generation for Pepper Square.”
Traffic Concerns Around Pepper Square
Although opponents of the project find it laughable, it is “a standard engineering fact that retail generates higher traffic volumes than residential traffic,” Schultz has said.
“Therefore, having less retail than the allowed 198,000 square feet will actually reduce traffic compared to a full retail build-out,” she said. “Additionally, we are assured of the new traffic signal at Berry Trail and the deep setbacks along Preston and Belt Line with wide sidewalks and treescape for shade. The North Central Texas Council of Governments has committed to improving traffic signals along Preston between Arapaho and 535, regardless of the redevelopment type.”
The North Central Texas Council of Governments has emphasized that “pushing people to the northern suburbs due to a lack of housing in Dallas will worsen traffic and increase living costs across the region,” Schultz said.
“More local traffic around Preston and Belt Line because more people live and shop there means fewer commuters from the north (currently 62% of drivers) will use Preston as an alternative to the Tollway,” Schultz’s email states.