A warehouse plan in South Dallas that was initially rejected by City officials and then resurrected on appeal was blocked in a Dallas County court on Tuesday.
Developers envision a 200,000-square-foot facility, but residents in the area are concerned about the increase in truck traffic on neighborhood streets. The Friendship-West Baptist Church has been leading the fight to stop the proposed development, which would be located next to the church.
Stonelake Capital Partners argued in court that there was no legally justifiable reason the proposed project should be blocked from moving forward. The initial building permit that was denied last August routed truck traffic onto the feeder road that runs to I-20. The plan was revised last year and now would send truck traffic onto Polk Street and Wheatland Road, bypassing the church and David D. Carter High School.
Lacking direct access to the frontage road, trucks would still drive through neighborhoods with several apartment homes, businesses, and the South Dallas Government Center and Tax Office.
“We’re here because the community has a voice that needs to be heard. The community voice has oftentimes been ignored, and this was a vehicle for the community to speak,” Friendship-West pastor Frederick Haynes said, according to NBC 5 DFW. “We do not want Wheatland Road damaged further with 18-wheelers.”
Consultant Lee Kleinman, a former Dallas City Council member who now works for the firm Masterplan, and Stonelake Capital attorney Joel Reese both told the court that the matter was one of legal standing, not community desires.
“Property rights trump the community, in my opinion,” Kleinman said, per NBC 5.
An attorney representing the church argued that developers would not propose a warehouse project like the one in North Dallas because “that’s where the business people live.”
Relatedly, Haynes said that the Forward Dallas plan — a pending land use update to City policy — may lead to a rezoning of the site, which has had a commercial designation for 20 years.
The final draft of the plan was released to the public in December. It offers several goals for Dallas development centered around environmentalist priorities and the rezoning of areas to facilitate the addition of low-income housing. Among the stated goals of the plan is “dis-investment in commercial corridors and centers” in South Dallas.
Judge Aiesha Redmond ultimately decided to issue an injunction against the development, scheduling a trial for April.
