The Dallas City Council on Wednesday authorized City Manager T.C. Broadnax to move forward with closing and land acquisition for the Cypress Creek at Forest Lane project in the Lake Highlands area, while remanding a lease agreement to the Housing Committee for consideration May 22.
Following a lengthy debate over racial equity, legal ramifications, and whether Dallas’ District 10 needs low-income housing in a high-opportunity area, council members voted 11-3 to consider a new resolution on the project June 14.
District 10 Councilman Adam McGough attempted to outright deny the Cypress Creek at Forest Lane project, proposed at 11520 North Central Expressway by developer Sycamore Strategies. McGough later suggested sending it to the council’s Housing Committee for further study. Both proposals didn’t gain enough support to move forward.
“This is not what people like to conveniently say is just a [Not In My Backyard] issue,” McGough said. “We should have sat down and had discussions with the community. You have to give people the dignity of being able to voice what’s happening in their community. I beg for y’all to come with me and stand with me at this location … I wouldn’t let my wife walk from this location to Stults Road Elementary School. You could stand there today and watch drug transactions happen at the DART station. You have to look at what’s happening on the ground here. Why is it happening so fast? Not one single question has been asked by any council member on this horseshoe about the deed restrictions in a public format.”
The proposal has been fraught with conflict since it was originally proposed two years ago. It appeared dead in the water after it was determined that deed restrictions prohibit residential development on the site. Sycamore Strategies found a workaround in proposing it as a Public Facility Corporation project, but city staff said that was not acceptable.
Council members met in executive session Wednesday to get legal advice on the project, but still couldn’t reach a consensus.
The 11-3 vote to defer a resolution to next month was opposed by McGough, District 12 Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn, and District 3 Councilman Casey Thomas.
Public Comment on Cypress Creek at Forest Lane
William Roth owns an adjacent office building and said he will sue the city and the developer if the project is approved. Deed restrictions prohibit the site from being developed as residential use.
“It is improper to permit a private developer to avoid these binding deed restrictions,” Roth said. “Such actions by the city would be considered a proprietary act and a violation of the public purpose. Sovereign immunity to the city would not apply and all potential causes of action arising from the violation of these deed restrictions would be available to about 150,000 square feet of property owners affected by this violation.”
Sycamore Strategies developer Zachary Krochtengel advocated for affordable housing, noting that District 10, where the project is proposed, contains less than 1 percent of the city’s low-income housing units. The project is proposed as Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC).
“You’re going to hear a lot of emotions about this proposed development, but the focus of placing affordable housing in Dallas needs to be informed by data,” he said. “There’s no statistical reason this proposed development should not move forward.”
The closest single-family homes are more than 1,000 feet away, the developer added.
Brittany Jones, who described herself as a housing voucher holder, also supported the project.
“Voucher holders have a stigma and a negative narrative that nobody wants to address,” she said. “When I go to an apartment complex and show them my voucher, all my accolades go out the window. We get a voucher, but where we have to stay is in poverty. With Cypress Creek being off 75 and Forest Lane, there are schools, hospitals, churches, and public transportation … you have a better way of life. Nobody wants to give us that. We just want options like everybody else.”
District 10 resident Rob Stewart said the proposed site is at least two Dallas Area Rapid Transit stops away from the nearest grocery store.
“It’s more than a mile to the closest playground,” he said. “It’s a very dangerous area. “There’s prostitution. There’s a lot of drugs. It has been a crime area and a problem area for a long time.”
Dallas City Council Feedback
District 7 Councilman Adam Bazaluda led the charge to move the project forward, arguing that the site is an optimal location for mixed-income housing.
“There seems to be some reserve from a couple of members with the language that was just provided,” he said in proposing the June 14 vote. “I know that it’s been said that it would appear to be redundant. However, this motion does contain dates certain so that we know when it will be back before us. It also allows the city manager to go ahead with the deal which will take away the factor of the seller having any reason to back out. This, to me, looks to be the best of both worlds, from what we’ve heard from [McGough], but also weighing in what is clearly obvious where the will of this body is to push this deal through in the end.”
The land is being purchased by the developer and conveyed to the city, District 1 Councilman Chad West pointed out.
“So we’re out no money from our end to acquire the land,” West said. “We’re also getting revenue off the developer for putting housing on the property … in addition to getting mixed-income housing on this property.”
West also established that the city is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis and shouldn’t be intimidated by the threat of litigation.
“We as a city have a duty to provide affordable housing,” he said. “We need to make it easier, not harder, as a city for people to build affordable housing. This is exactly the kind of situation where we’re making it harder. If we keep beating them up time after time after time for trying to give us what we’re asking for, they’re going to stop doing it.”
In a separate matter, a proposal to consider permanent supportive housing at a former extended-stay hotel in the Lake Highlands area was postponed to May 24.
