Three months after five council members asked for a briefing on the matter, Dallas officials are no closer to deciding how the City’s zoning and development codes should be revised.
In a memo to Mayor Eric Johnson dated November 8, some council members sought an explanation as to “what the process would be” to allow the construction of other housing types in single-family districts. But at Wednesday’s special council meeting, Council Member Chad West (District 1), the memo’s author, did not want to discuss the issue.
“I would just make a recommendation today, mayor, … that we punt this item down to the Planning Commission and let them take the first stab at it before we, as council, try to cure cancer with this policy,” he said.
West made a motion to that end, but a vote was blocked on procedural grounds.
“This is a conversation,” said Andrea Gilles, Dallas’ Planning and Urban Design interim director. “There is no proposal on the table. Staff does not have any proposals at this time. This is a completely separate conversation from Forward Dallas. This is stemming from a five-signature memo that was presented in November. I think that there’s been a lot of confusion, particularly in the media, about what this is and what this isn’t. It is completely separate from Forward Dallas.”
Forward Dallas is a land-use plan. What West and fellow Council Members Paula Blackmon (District 9), Jaynie Schultz (District 11), Jaime Resendez (District 5), and Adam Bazaldua (District 7) wanted, according to the memo, was a briefing on the process and potential effects of amending the Dallas Development Code to allow tri-plex and four-plex dwellings in single-family districts.
“This was intended to have housing options on the table for us to consider as a council,” West said during the meeting. “Homeownership is becoming less and less attainable. Our rental need is very great in the city. Any options we have on the table to consider, we should really consider. I believe staff when they tell us this isn’t a one-size-fits-all scenario. I just think we should open our minds and our hearts to consider this. We should let our appointed folks at [City Plan Commission] talk to this.”
It is the second time since December 19 that council members have debated the merits of reducing lot sizes to allow for the construction of tri-plexes and four-plexes in single-family districts. In that meeting, council members on the Housing & Homelessness Solutions Committee generally agreed that the character of single-family neighborhoods should be preserved and that multi-family housing does not belong there.
On Wednesday, that sentiment was reiterated.
“One of the reasons I signed this memorandum was to actually do what I hoped to do as a leader, which is to learn about ways we can make the city of Dallas better,” Schultz said. “This is not in any way, shape, or form a proposal. I know there’s a whole campaign to make this into something that it’s not — which is to say if we want to learn about something and possibilities for our city, we are dead-set and determined to destroy single-family homes. That is not what this is about.”
A presentation on the city’s residential zoning districts and lot sizes shows officials must consider issues and challenges involving density, scale, and design standards. The five council members’ memo called housing in Dallas “unaffordable” because of “a lack of available housing units” and suggested that reducing minimum lot sizes and increasing the number of other housing types on them “will allow for the development of additional dwelling units in residentially zoned areas.”
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the Development Services Department has allegedly been plagued by various inefficiencies and periodic permitting backlogs under the leadership of City Manager T.C. Broadnax. While single-family permitting ticked up over the last year, the department still struggles with commercial turnarounds.
“The key is the design standards and having those discussions about the massing and the scales, specifically,” Gilles said. “In the past, people did not max out the building envelope. What we see today, even in single-family districts, it’s more common to max out that building envelope. So, where we have some concerns about duplexes or tri-plexes, you’re almost getting a bigger development out of that single-family zoning because there are also no design standards … or we haven’t updated single-family zoning districts to reflect more of what you would want to see.”
Council Member Cara Mendelsohn (District 12) said she opposes the introduction of any multi-family units in single-family neighborhoods.
“I don’t care what it looks like,” she said. “If it matches the size of the house in the neighborhood, that’s not the point. The difference is I want a single-family neighbor, and the neighbors want single-family neighbors. They don’t want to have multi-family next to them. Our single-family neighborhoods are a stabilizing factor throughout our city, and we need to preserve them.”
But for Council Member Omar Narvaez (District 6), this was not the time to reflect on such issues.
“I don’t want our staff spending any time on this, dealing with this right now,” he said. “I want them to finish Forward Dallas, and let’s move on.”
Council Member Carolyn King Arnold (District 4) said she appreciated the discussions but thought officials should spend Dallas’ resources elsewhere.
“The answer is ‘no’ for established neighborhoods. We’re struggling to get our services delivered to these neighborhoods. Give us what we deserve as taxpayers now. We want services, and we want them now to be delivered more efficiently,” King said.
The next Dallas City Council briefing is scheduled for February 7 at 9 a.m.
