(Candy’s Dirt) — Several North Dallas neighborhoods rallied last week in opposition to the mixed-use Pepper Square redevelopment project at Preston and Belt Line roads. A planned public hearing before the City Plan Commission, originally scheduled for Thursday, has now been postponed to Aug. 8.
City Plan Commission Vice Chair Brent Rubin told CandysDirt.com on Monday that he’s met several times with residents and zoning consultants from Masterplan, who represent developer Henry S. Miller.
“I’ve been working hard and hopefully we’re homing in on something that most will be OK with,” Rubin said.
Shortly after talking with Rubin, we heard from residents who live near the proposed Pepper Square redevelopment site that the deal may be dead.
That’s false, said Lee Kleinman, a zoning and land use consultant with Masterplan who served several terms on the Dallas City Council and defeated CandysDirt.com publisher Candy Evans in the 2017 District 11 council race.
“[Henry S. Miller] has not withdrawn the case, nor do they intend to,” Kleinman said Monday. “The hearing is scheduled for [July] 25, and we are prepared. The Plan Commission may make a motion to hold the case, so I suggest you speak with them.”
Neighbors in Opposition
Local real estate broker Janet Marcum is president of the Northwood Hills Homeowners Association, an area with more than 1,150 residences located southeast of Pepper Square. She said the first iteration of the Pepper Square redevelopment project, proposed in 2022, was unacceptable and the developer has not offered a suitable compromise since then.
“From the beginning, people were pretty clear about what we wanted to happen on the site because we were under the impression that it would be invigorated, it could be remodeled, and this would be a chance to get a lot of great things on the site,” Marcum said. “We told them we love outdoor dining with shade. We like luxury condos. We like retirement living options. We like boutique options like bookstores or breweries. We like family-friendly things like splash pads, fountains, or water features.”
The neighbors wanted greenspace, Marcum added. The 15.5-acre site is currently zoned Community Retail, but the developer wants a rezoning to build housing there. The original proposal was for 2,000 units; they’ve now lowered the number to about 1,550 units.
Resident Marc Lombardi said Monday that the neighborhood associations aim to offer constructive dialogue and explain the community’s vision.
“This process has produced some really great feedback from the commissioners and, from our end, a better understanding of their viewpoint,” Lombardi said. “The hope is for [Henry S. Miller and Masterplan] to go back to the drawing board as they should have done months ago. I think we are quite far from ‘something that most will be OK with.’ It’s not a pure numbers game, though that is a significant factor. There are qualitative factors to the proposal that simply can’t be addressed in such a short time. As one commissioner put it, the proposal ‘lacks a heart.’”
Opposition to Pepper Square Gets Organized
Residents expressed concern from the beginning about a potential influx of traffic, crime, noise, low-income apartments, and “super-tall buildings,” Marcum said.
The neighborhood association leaders agreed that they had to join forces and fight, she explained. Masterplan’s compromises to reduce the footprint of the rezoning area didn’t make much difference, she said, because they still want to build 100 units per acre.
“It really wasn’t a reduction in height or density by scale,” she said.
District 11 Dallas City Councilwoman Jaynie Schultz, who represents the area, has said that the developer is unwilling to compromise on the number of housing units. Schultz, who announced last week she won’t seek re-election in 2025, also has said that retail developments create more traffic than residential.
“While many believe the shopping center can be revitalized without any residential development, this is not an option for the owners,” Schultz wrote in an email newsletter. “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.”
Why Can’t Retail Zoning Work?
Marcum and her neighbors reject the notion that multifamily housing must be included in the project. Retail developments have been successful at similar locations including Hillcrest Village, Preston and Forest Lane, Preston and Royal Lane, and Preston and Campbell Road, Marcum said.
“Those sites have been redeveloped without residential, so we feel it should be possible [and] it should be part of the conversation,” she said.
In addition to crafting a plan for opposing the Pepper Square rezoning, neighbors at last week’s meeting also discussed the ForwardDallas comprehensive land use plan as it relates to new development surrounding their single-family neighborhoods.
Former Dallas City Councilwoman Sandy Greyson encouraged residents to continue emailing and expressing their concerns before the City Plan Commission.
“I have seen a whole lot of zoning cases in 16 years,” Greyson said. “What is effective is to show up. Your emails have been fantastic. You’ve really gotten the plan commissioners’ attention. We need to ask you to take the next step, and the next step is to go down to City Hall for this Plan Commission meeting on Aug. 8. I can’t tell you how important it is to have an auditorium full of people saying to the commissioners — and the council members, when it’s that time — ‘We don’t want this.’”