Dallas Council Quickly Approves Oak Cliff Gateway Rezoning

Roy Appleton/Staff Writer
Dallas Morning News

Ten years in the making, a rezoning of the Oak Cliff Gateway area gained Dallas City Council approval Wednesday in 42 minutes.

After some questions, concerns and words of praise, the council unanimously approved new ground rules for about 850 acres in north Oak Cliff.

“The time is now,” said council member Scott Griggs, after noting the years of work on the project in his district. “I’m ready today to get it passed.”

The council action supports a goal of Griggs and others to encourage redevelopment while protecting neighborhoods in a diverse, long-settled area minutes from downtown.

“This is one of the most critical pieces of real estate in all of the city of Dallas. This will be a major driver for the city,” said Mayor Mike Rawlings, after praising the rezoning effort as “an amazing amount of work.”

No Photo Credit | Zang Boulevard at Beckley Avenue is in the heart of the Oak Cliff Gateway area.

The target area stretches from near Interstate 30, the Trinity River levee and Interstate 35E to Marsalis Avenue, Eighth Street and roughly Zang Boulevard and Beckley Avenue.

The new zoning divides the area into 10 districts, allowing varying land uses and building heights, up to 20 stories.

Goals include attracting residents, retail and offices to an area now home to aging houses and apartments, vacant lots and buildings, a scattering of businesses, two parks and streetcar service to and from downtown.

Starting in 2005 …

The Gateway area was targeted for redevelopment in 2005. Two years later, the City Council established boundaries and called for a review of its zoning. The project idled during the economic downturn.

After months of public meetings, and drawing on suggestions from a committee of volunteers, the City Plan Commission in November endorsed new zoning.

And after weeks of lobbying by property owners, developers and neighborhood groups, Griggs amended the proposal for council review.

Maximum building heights were reduced along stretches of Beckley and I-30 at the request of the East Kessler Park neighborhood. Two business owners along Beckley questioned the rezoning of their property for residential uses.

Griggs said the change wouldn’t force them or other businesses in the target area to move, would allow them to expand their buildings and to sell property for allowed uses.

An area targeted for development by Methodist Dallas Medical Center was expanded, increasing heights allowed there.

And height limits were increased along portions of Zang, a main Gateway thoroughfare, among other areas, to target redevelopment along the future streetcar line but away from established residences, Griggs said before the Wednesday meeting.

“We tried to create density for the streetcar that still supports and complements the neighborhoods,” he said.

The rezoning also eased parking restrictions for office and retail uses. It identified properties for possible historic designation and protection, such as the former Polar Bear Ice Cream shop along Zang and the former rooming house near Beckley where Lee Harvey Oswald lived in 1963.

The changes include buffers between future restaurants and existing residences. The rezoning also offers incentives for reuse of a former church along Zang. If the building is preserved, allowed uses include a boutique hotel and retail. If not, the property could only hold single-family homes or duplexes.

Work in progress

The ordinance calls for a review of the zoning in five years.

Expect “mistakes in an area this big,” Griggs said before the vote. “This is going to need continual refinement as the market changes and we learn more about zoning and develop better zoning practices.”

For now, he said, “this is setting up the next stage of how we’re going to change things hopefully over the next few decades with the arrival of the streetcar.”

Follow Roy Appleton on Twitter at @rappleton.