As the threats of gentrification and displacement loom over the neighborhoods of West Oak Cliff, the Dallas City Council took action on Wednesday and approved the West Oak Cliff Area Plan. Advocates consider the plan an opportunity to shift control of future growth from developers to residents.
District 1 Plan Commissioner Amanda Popken and District 1 Councilman Chad West have championed the plan, referred to as WOCAP, as a way for residents to have a voice in the preservation and development of their neighborhood.
Although not all council members were present for the vote, which came at the end of a nine-hour marathon council meeting, the 10 remaining around the horseshoe voted in favor of the plan.
West said the district deserves to be empowered and protected. The councilman referenced the “painful teardown” of El Corazon del Tejas in 2017 when developers bought the land and built a CVS.
“This beloved restaurant owned by a prominent Latino family was lost due to aggressive development and zoning from the 1950s,” West said.
Neighbors in the WOCAP study area — generally bounded by West Davis Street, Hampton Road, West 12th Street, Tyler Street, Vernon Avenue, Illinois Avenue on the south, Cockrell Road, and Gilpin Road on the west — have called for protection against teardowns of at-risk buildings.
The neighbors mobilized during the two-plus years that WOCAP was being developed, with at least three communities developing registered neighborhood associations.
Residents have fought against zoning that allows intrusive multifamily developments and fast-food restaurants in their backyards, West said.
“The 1950s and ‘60s-era zoning, put in place when the city ripped out our streetcar tracks, when the state divided Brown and Black neighborhoods with highways, and when redlining was used to disenfranchise minority communities, continues to threaten West Oak Cliff,” West said. “Neighbors demanded changes, so we filed authorized hearings to review and modify the zoning in these areas. That’s where the West Oak Cliff Area Plan comes in. Over the last two-and-a-half years, WOCAP has built the path for residents and small business owners to have a say in their neighborhood’s future.”
Housing Addressed in West Oak Cliff Area Plan
Councilman West acknowledged that District 1 residents are concerned about displacement.
“The lack of home supply coupled with the rapid growth in the area is causing the rising home and rental prices,” he said. “WOCAP recommends housing tools like neighborhood empowerment zones to mitigate displacement. It suggests exploring new, affordable housing options like accessory dwelling units, duplexes, and fourplexes to put more rooftops in Oak Cliff. The goal is for us to find a way to build community without having to tear down and displace.”
West Oak Cliff Neighbor Comments
Seventeen speakers addressed the council Wednesday and most spoke favorably about the plan, but a few expressed concerns about lack of equity and community engagement.
Resident Christine Hopkins said she supported the plan with amendments as proposed and asked that “actual dollars and actual anti-displacement tools” be invested in the community.
“This plan alone is not going to prevent Oak Cliff from going the way of Little Mexico,” she said. “I spent over two-and-a-half years working with the West Oak Cliff Coalition to do the bilingual, bicultural outreach the city did not have the resources to provide on a plan set to impact over 38,000 Hispanic residents.”
The WOCAP amendments, introduced by Popken during a Sept. 15 Plan Commission meeting, did not come about due to misinformation being spread around the neighborhood, Hopkins added.
“Oak Cliff’s legacy residents are more than capable of seeing the unaffordable price tags on newly constructed ‘luxury’ missing middle housing units, townhomes, and apartments going up all around District 1,” she said. “Working class and Latino residents are more than capable of deciding what planning changes will hurt them rather than help them.”
Carina Arellano, a legacy resident whose family has been in the area for six decades, said she has seen drastic changes in West Oak Cliff over the years.
“Many of these changes have displaced residents and will continue to displace them with the overdevelopment,” she said. “Residents continue to face an increase of city code violations, increased property taxes, and increased rents. I wish that the City of Dallas would continue to encourage the council members to connect with their community members and stakeholders so we can create a sustainable community that focuses on environmental, social, and economic development for our district.”
Community engagement was key for WOCAP, West said.
“Was it perfect? Absolutely not,” he said. “But I will say this. Staff hosted dozens of bilingual in-person and virtual meetings, surveys, and pop-up events to collect ideas. In fact, more people came to the WOCAP web page and filled out WOCAP surveys than they did for the city-wide Racial Equity Plan. I don’t say this to disparage the efforts of the Racial Equity Plan. I simply say this to highlight just how important WOCAP is to our community.”
